Medical Device Legal News with Sam Bernstein: Episode 8
Hospice Audit Series: Beyond Part D, OIG Scrutinizes the Hospice Industry to the Tune of $6.6 Billion
The Next Wave From OIG: Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Audits
DOJ Launches Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program - On August 1, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the details of its new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program. According to the DOJ, the...more
Manishkumar Patel of Pelham Manor, NY recently pleaded guilty in connection with a healthcare fraud and kickback scheme involving the sale of fraudulent prescriptions to pharmacies, durable medical equipment suppliers, and...more
On April 10, Virginia-based nurse practitioner Daphne Jenkins was sentenced to prison for her participation in a $7.8 million telemedicine fraud scheme that involved medically unnecessary orders for durable medical equipment...more
Cooperation Spares Former NBA Shooting Guard From Prison - Former National Basketball Association (NBA) shooting guard, Antoine Wright, was sentenced to time served after he pled guilty to conspiracy and aggravated...more
On November 22, 2023, while many were preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) posted a consumer alert (Alert) warning the public about a fraud scheme involving monthly billing for remote...more
FDA releases updated guidance regarding the Q-Submission Program; C.R. Bard faces an unusual result in its patent dispute with AngioDynamics; A nurse practitioner pleads guilty to committing health care fraud by using...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights significant regulatory activity for March 2023. We discuss several criminal and civil enforcement actions that involve Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and...more
Here’s a selection of recent healthcare frauds from New Jersey. On April 17, John Sher of Margate was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.77 million in restitution and $327,987 in forfeiture for defrauding...more
To celebrate the opening of Rivkin Radler’s first Florida office, we’ll cover some recent Florida frauds. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that two Miami residents, Dean Zusmer and Lawrence...more
On February 7, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its annual False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries for fiscal year 2022. DOJ recovered $2.2 billion from a total of 351 settlements and judgments—the second-highest...more
Home health-related fraud and dentists behaving badly (see this week’s earlier posts) have both been notable recent trends, but the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been even busier lately cracking down on fraud involving...more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that a federal grand jury has charged two pharmacy owners, a mother-daughter duo from South Florida, with healthcare fraud, wire fraud, and payment of kickbacks in exchange...more
On July 20, 2022, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert cautioning physicians and other health care practitioners to use “heightened scrutiny” when entering into telemedicine arrangements that...more
The July 20, 2022 Special Fraud Alert describes findings from what OIG describes as “dozens of investigations of fraud schemes involving companies that purported to provide telehealth, telemedicine, or telemarketing services”...more
On June 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG), released its spring 2022 semiannual report to Congress. The semiannual report covers the period of October 1, 2021 to...more
HHS-OIG issued a new Special Fraud Alert on relationships with “purported telemedicine companies” on July 20, 2022. The Special Fraud Alert comes on the heels of a nationally coordinated takedown charging dozens of...more
A group of New Jersey home health care companies (collectively, the BAYADA Companies), have agreed to pay $17 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute. Home Health Agency...more
Durable medical equipment (DME) is particularly important for many Medicare beneficiaries. However, companies that manufacture and sell DME need to be careful because there are strict federal regulations outlining almost...more
On June 3, 2021, the Northern District of Texas ruled on a novel issue in U.S. v. Hagen (Case No. 3:19-CR-0146-B (N.D. Tex.)). In a health care fraud conspiracy case against DME suppliers, the court held that a good faith...more
For the past two years, telemedicine companies, durable medical equipment suppliers, pharmacies, and individuals and entities that market to such entities have been at the center of DOJ gunsights. In 2019, the Department...more
On February 4, 2021, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Office of Public Affairs, issued a Press Release (the “DOJ Press Release”) announcing that Kelly Wolfe, President of Regency, Inc., a medical billing company located in...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 2 (January 20, 2020) - - The HHS Office of Inspector General has updated its Work Plan, which includes an item on early discharges from inpatient rehabilitation facilities to home...more
In the final quarter of calendar year 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released its Semiannual Report to Congress (the “Report”). The Report covers the six-month period...more
Yesterday, a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) establishing new enforcement initiatives aimed at removing and excluding previously sanctioned entities from Medicare, Medicaid, and the...more
Many people reasonably expect that when the government is targeting a company or individual for some adverse action, they will know it—there will be a lawsuit, an indictment, or some other clear demarcating event. ...more