False Claims Act Insights - Are All Healthcare “Kickbacks” Subject to FCA Liability?
Hospice Insights Podcast - Stories of Successful Hospice Leadership: The CEO and Chief Medical Officer Relationship
Understanding Trends and Challenges in the Behavioral Health Sector
The DEA Is Knocking at Your Door . . . Are You Prepared? – Diagnosing Health Care
AGG Talks: Healthcare Insights Podcast - Episode 4: What to Do When Insurance Companies Deny Behavioral Health Claims
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Refresh: What’s New in the New OIG General Compliance Program Guidance
The Latest on Healthcare Enforcement
The New FTC Rule Explained: Will Your Non-Compete Be Enforceable?
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 192: Business Issues for Healthcare with Ira Bedenbaugh and Randi Branham of Elliott Davis
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 191: South Carolina Lowcountry Healthcare with Walter Bennet, MUSC Orangeburg CEO
Understanding Scope of Practice
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 188: Healthcare Valuation with Darcy Devine, Founder of Buckhead FMV
#WorkforceWednesday: Navigating Physician Non-Compete Litigation - Employment Law This Week® - Spilling Secrets Podcast
Podcast - Conversions of Public Hospitals
Findings from Gibbins’ Annual Healthcare Bankruptcy Report
Compliance, Project Management, and Process Improvement
How One Hospice Owner Got Convicted of Healthcare Fraud and How You Can Avoid That Fate
Year in Review: Key Regulatory Updates in 2023
Episode 172: Matthew Roberts and Lauren DeMoss, Maynard Nexsen Health Care Attorneys
Counsel That Cares - Value-Based Care as a Long-Term Investment
Whistleblower Watch is a comprehensive source for all False Claims Act (FCA) news and information. Every quarter, Cozen O’Connor will provide in-house counsel and compliance professionals with a summary of the most notable...more
In early May 2024, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) agreed to pay $38 million to resolve a False Claims Act case based on alleged Stark Law violations. The size of the settlement in United States ex rel. J....more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the request of qui tam relators that it review the Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in United States of America ex rel. Martin v. Hathaway, No. 22-1463 (6th Cir.). In so doing, the...more
In United States ex rel. Roshan v. E. Tex. Med. Ctr., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 252092, 2020 WL 8918651 (E.D. Tex. (Nov. 24, 2020)), a Texas federal court partially dismissed a relator’s claim alleging the defendants engaged in...more
Most health care providers have at least a basic understanding of the Anti-Kickback Statute. This federal law prohibits providers from offering, paying, soliciting, or accepting any form of “remuneration” for patient...more
On September 9, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $50 million settlement with Wheeling Hospital, Inc. of West Virginia to resolve False Claims Act allegations that Wheeling Hospital violated the Anti-Kickback...more
On December 20, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granted in part a petition for rehearing filed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in a False Claims Act (FCA) case that has generated...more
Boston Heart Diagnostics, a Massachusetts company, agree to pay $26.7 million to settle a False Claims Act case involving allegations of paying illegal kickbacks to physicians....more
On October 9, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) released proposed changes to the regulations interpreting the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), including a new proposed exception for limited...more
As part of the long-awaited proposed changes “to modernize and clarify” the regulations that interpret the Physician Self-Referral Law (the “Stark Law”) released on October 9, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...more
In recent years, the healthcare industry has been turning greater attention to the need to engage or involve patients in developing new technologies and systems to improve healthcare delivery. These patient engagement...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit endorsed two controversial interpretations of the Stark Law’s “volume or value” standard, known as the correlation theory and the practice “loss” theory in U.S. ex rel. J. William...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that Montana’s Kalispell Regional Healthcare System (KRH) and six subsidiaries and related entities agreed to pay $24 million to resolve allegations that they violated the...more
Payments to physicians, even for routine, necessary duties, may cause referrals to the entity making the payments to be "prohibited referrals" under the Stark Law. This means the hospital or other entity should not have...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that, in fiscal year 2016 ending September 30, it obtained more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims. More than half of this...more
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a $34 million settlement with Mercy Hospital Springfield (“Hospital”) of Springfield, Missouri, and its affiliate Mercy Clinic (“Clinic”). The settlement resolves an...more
I frequently hear attorneys claim the Stark law applies equally to hospitals and physicians. This position is sometimes taken in the process of negotiating a transaction between a hospital and a physician or physician group....more
The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Middle District of Florida (USAO-MDFL) prosecuted several civil health care fraud matters in 2016 and issued related press releases. A review of the USAO-MDFL’s criminal and...more
I. Stark Law and False Claims Act - The FCA has become the primary enforcement vehicle for the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, better known as the Stark Law. There are now more than 150 public cases citing to both the...more
After the federal government’s victory against Tuomey Hospital, we have seen an increasing number of large False Claims Act (FCA) settlements with hospitals involving Stark Law allegations. Relators are even citing, as...more
Okay, there’s not really a Most-Illegal-Physician-Compensation Prize. But if there were, Florida’s North Broward Hospital District would have won in a walk. That’s why the district has agreed to pay the government $69.5...more
On July 2, 2015, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a $237,454,195 judgment against Tuomey Health Care System (Tuomey) for violations of the Federal False Claims Act (FCA), which liability arose from violations of the Stark law....more
On July 2, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a $237 million judgment against Tuomey Healthcare System, Inc. (“Tuomey”), in a federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) case arising out of...more
After reading through the hundreds of pages of the District Court's and Appeals Court's decisions, including the recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that was filed on July 2, 2015, one thing is certain: Mixing one...more
In This Issue: - Background - Tuomey’s Second Appeal to the Fourth Circuit - The Trial Court’s Grant of a New Trial - Tuomey’s Request for Judgement as a Matter of Law on the Stark Law and FCA Issues ...more