The SEC has published a notice allowing whistleblowers to come forward with claims that information they provided to the government helped lead to the SEC’s $294 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase. The SEC will review any claims and can award whistleblowers between 10% and 30% of the amount collected. The SEC obtained the settlement in…
Therapy Provider to Pay $700,000 for Medicare Overbilling
Fairfax Nursing Center, a skilled nursing facility in northern Virginia, has agreed to pay $700,000 to resolve allegations that it billed Medicare for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy. The government alleged that FNC billed government insurance for procedures that were excessive, duplicative, performed without clear goals or direction, or performed primarily because of their higher reimbursement…
Gallup Accused of Overbilling Government
The self-styled “Most Trusted Name in Polling” stands accused of violating the federal False Claims Act by submitting inflated estimates to the U.S. Mint and State Department for work gauging public demand for new coins and passports. Michael Lindley, formerly an employee of The Gallup Organization, sued the polling firm under the FCA’s qui tam…
NY Attorney General Announces 2012 Medicaid Fraud Recoveries of $335 Million
The office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Wednesday that its recoveries for Medicaid fraud in 2012 totaled $335 million—a seven-year high. That figure included several high-profile recoveries; most notably, the state received $146 million in a $3 billion multistate settlement with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. Medicaid, which provides health insurance for the…
Judge Rejects $8 Million WakeMed Settlement
A federal judge has taken the unusual step of rejecting a deferred prosecution agreement between the U.S. government and WakeMed, a hospital chain accused of defrauding Medicare by charging for overnight care never provided. The agreement, which came after two years of negotiation, would have resolved allegations that WakeMed’s heart center routinely misclassified patient care,…
American Sleep Medicine to Pay $15.3 Settlement for Improper Billing
American Sleep Medicine, which owns and operates sleep-testing centers in more than a dozen states, will pay $15.3 million to settle allegations that it improperly billed government insurers for ineligible diagnostic services. The government alleges that the company employed technicians who lacked the necessary credentials for performing Medicare-eligible sleep tests. American Sleep knew it was…
Kickback Allegations Lead to $11.4 Settlement by Victory Pharma
Lap dances, golf outings, spa treatments, and expensive dinners were just some of the perks allegedly offered by Victory Pharma Inc. in order to induce doctors to prescribe its drugs. Now the company has agreed to pay a total of $11.4 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the False…
Amgen Pleads Guilty, Pays $762 Million
Amgen has pled guilty and agreed to pay $762 million in connection with its off-label marketing of Aranesp, an anemia drug. The company will pay $612 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations brought by ten separate whistleblowers. In addition to Amgen’s off-label marketing of Aranesp, the civil settlement resolves allegations that the company…
Major Dialysis Provider Faces Qui Tam Suit
A doctor and a nurse formerly employed by DaVita Inc. have sued the dialysis provider for violations of the federal False Claims Act. The whistleblowers claim that DaVita purposely ordered oversized vials of dialysis drugs and then discarded the excess while charging Medicare for the entire quantity. Medicare rules have since been changed to disallow…
Healthpoint and DFB to Pay up to $48 Million on Unapproved-Drug Allegations
The Department of Justice announced today that Healthpoint Ltd. and DFB Pharmaceuticals will pay as much as $48 million to settle allegations that Healthpoint improperly charged Medicare and Medicaid for prescriptions of Xenaderm, a skin ointment never approved by the FDA. The evidence against Healthpoint included an internal email in which a clinical researcher for…