Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 26, 2017
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
UN Rights Expert: UN Not Protecting Whistleblowers Enough – An independent U.N. human rights expert says the United Nations has “room for improvement” in protecting whistleblowers. Special rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye also faults the U.N. and other international organizations for not adopting “robust” policies on access to information, saying they can too easily deny requests for information. Kaye urges international organizations, states and civil society to support freedom of information, “particularly in an era of misinformation and propaganda.” He says that “too much doubt and distrust, for good reason, have infected governments worldwide.” Washington Post
Catholic Health strikes settlement with Justice Department over billing practices – Catholic Health has agreed to a large settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a whistleblower lawsuit over billing practices in such government health programs as Medicare and Medicaid, according to two sources with knowledge of the case. The hospital system also agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to ensure compliance with regulations. Those agreements usually last five years. The settlement arose from a whistleblower lawsuit that is brought under the False Claims Act and entitles whistleblowers to a portion of any settlement. Details of the case were not available. Officials at Catholic Health and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo declined to comment on Tuesday, saying the settlement remained sealed, preventing them from talking publicly about it. Such cases remain “under seal” when initially filed while federal authorities investigate the allegations. The Buffalo News
Home Health Provider, Owner Must Pay $2M for Medicaid Fraud – A home health provider and its owner were hit with an almost $2 million False Claims Act judgment Oct. 20 for defrauding the District of Columbia’s Medicaid program ( United States v. Dynamic Visions, Inc. , 2017 BL 376592, D.D.C., No. 11-cv-695, 10/20/17 ). The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted evidence from an FBI investigator that Dynamic Visions Inc. (DVI) submitted from January 2006 through June 2009 $489,744 in fraudulent Medicaid claims, which were tripled under the FCA’s damages provision. Bloomberg BNA