Designed for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, this newsletter seeks to bring you up to speed on key federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) developments, with links to primary resources. Each quarter, we...more
As we detailed in a previous blog, on October 3, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a strategic plan to “safeguard[] the integrity of HHS grants and contracts.” The...more
The following is a summary of selected federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports of fraud and abuse enforcement activity across the country. The enforcement actions reported...more
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital Inc. in Tampa, Florida, has agreed to pay $19.564 million to settle false claims allegations over claims submitted to federal health care programs for items and...more
A recent article in Law360 sparked a vigorous conversation among members of Pietragallo’s white collar practice group about the current state of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) evolving emphasis on individual...more
Health Care Network Settles False Claims Act Allegations for $345 Million - Community Health Network Inc. (CHN) has agreed to pay $345,000,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) for knowingly...more
The Department of Justice and other federal enforcement agencies continued to hotly pursue individuals and entities involved in criminal telefraud schemes in 2022, as evidenced by the national coordinated law enforcement...more
HealthOne Critical Care Transport Service Inc., doing business as MedicOne Medical Response of Marion, Illinois, has agreed to pay $302,124 to settle allegations it improperly billed Medicare for scheduled, non-emergency...more
Since 2016, Epstein Becker Green (EBG) has researched, compiled, and analyzed state-specific content relating to the regulatory requirements for professional mental/behavioral health practitioners and stakeholders seeking to...more
Physicians Group Services, P.A. (PGS) has reached a settlement with the U.S. and Florida to resolve allegations that it submitted false or fraudulent claims to the Florida Medicaid Program....more
In 2020, we published an eAlert titled “Telehealth in a Changing World - Trending Risks and How to Minimize Potential Exposure.” As we predicted would happen, the government has become acutely focused on telehealth fraud....more
Report on Medicare Compliance 31, no. 35 (September 26, 2022) - For the third time in about 2 1/2 years, hospitals or other providers that are part of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, a large health system in New Hampshire,...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 31 no. 29 (August 15, 2022) - Sanford Health, Sanford Clinic and Sanford Medical Center in South Dakota have agreed to pay $25,842 in a settlement about telemedicine services with the HHS...more
On July 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert to caution healthcare practitioners who may wish to enter into arrangements with telehealth...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
Report on Medicare Compliance 31 no. 18 (May 16, 2022) - In a new report, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) said 25% of Medicare beneficiaries experienced patient harm (adverse events and temporary harm events)...more
On April 20, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a nationwide coordinated law enforcement action focused on COVID-19-related healthcare fraud. In total, DOJ brought criminal charges against 21 individuals,...more
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) are increasingly relying on sophisticated data analytics tools to identify and investigate fraud...more
Cardiovascular stress testing to diagnose patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and other related types of conditions can be a highly-effective tool in many cases. In fact, many cardiologists routinely recommend stress...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 30, no. 22 (June 14, 2021) - A Colorado radiation therapy provider has agreed to pay $3.569 million in a civil monetary penalty settlement with the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). ...more
Frontier Sued over Allegations that Its DSL Service Is Slower than Advertised - The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), and a bipartisan group of five state AGs and two California district attorneys, sued Internet service...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 30, no. 2 (January 18, 2021) - Recovery audit contractors (RACs) may soon be auditing positron emission tomography (PET) for initial treatment strategy in oncologic conditions for compliance...more