Can a 40-year-old fraud and abuse law that compared to many others is relatively straightforward still get providers into trouble? Answer: You bet! In fact, in the first quarter of 2022 alone, the U.S. Attorney for the...more
Over the past year, the federal government has taken concrete steps to fulfill its promise of a heightened commitment to investigating and enforcing health care fraud within the Medicare Advantage program (Medicare Part C). ...more
On September 13, 2021, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) intervened in a False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit alleging that a health insurer defrauded the government by submitting false patient data to wrongfully inflate payments...more
On August 12, 2021, a panel of the Seventh Circuit voting 2-1 endorsed the existence of an “objective reasonableness” defense under the FCA. United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu, Inc., No. 11-cv-3290, 2021 WL 3560894...more
Compliance Today (March 2021) - A Texas spine clinic “has agreed to pay $330,898.00 to resolve liability under the False Claims Act for the alleged improper billing of electro-acupuncture device neurostimulators,” U.S....more
On December 11, 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a $12.5 million dollar settlement with Pennsylvania-based health system Coordinated Health...more
In recent years, healthcare providers have increasingly faced civil and criminal enforcement actions premised on the allegation that services billed to government healthcare programs were not medically necessary. As a result,...more
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida has recently decided to intervene in a lawsuit brought under the Federal False Claims Act and initiated by a whistleblower. The U.S. Attorney has filed his own...more
Over recent years, the Federal government has trained its sights on potential billing abuses in the Medicare Part A program for Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”) in the provision of rehabilitation therapy services. The...more
Aetna Life Insurance Company recently won a $37 million verdict against a group of Northern California surgical centers, Bay Area Surgical Management, LLC and its affiliates (collectively, Bay Area), for an alleged...more