ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice is investigating Medicare risk scores, as whistleblower lawsuits alleging billing abuses in privately run Medicare plans have recently increased. At least half a dozen of these lawsuits have been filed under the False Claims Act since 2010, including two that recently surfaced. Medicare Advantage […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a $600,000 reward for a whistleblower for the first time in a retaliation claim. The whistleblower, a former hedge-fund trader for Paradigm Capital Management, faced retaliation for reporting his concerns about conflicts of interest. The whistleblower received the maximum 30 percent […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice announced new settlements under the False Claims Act, one of which affects Alameda, CA laboratory Singulex Inc, say Alameda County qui tam attorneys. Singulex, along with Health Diagnostics Laboratory of Richmond, VA, agreed to pay $48.5 million to settle charges that they violated the […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it will pay an unidentified whistleblower, a compliance officer, an award of about $1.5 million. This is the second whistleblower award given to an employee with internal audit or compliance responsibilities, after $300,000 was awarded to a compliance officer in […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice has announced that it has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit against one of the nation’s largest nursing home chains, HCR ManorCare. The Department of Justice alleges that HCR ManorCare, a nursing home chain based in Ohio, overbilled Medicare patients. The whistleblower lawsuit was originally […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Three former managers of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation have filed Federal, as well as Florida State, whistleblower claims under the federal False Claims Act and Florida False Claims Act. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation’s largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medical care, is charged with defrauding Federal healthcare programs […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The role of the whistleblower, usually a current or former employee who has witnessed unlawful behavior, is key in the fight against healthcare fraud, say California qui tam/false claims lawyers. The Whistleblower Act protects a whistleblower against retaliation. Under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower can file what […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Nineteen healthcare-related qui tam (false claims) cases were unsealed at the end of 2014. These cases were from federal district courts in 13 different states. Unsealed filings show that the government affirmatively declined intervention in 10 of those 19 recently unsealed cases. The government intervened in 3 of […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The definition of a public disclosure, and how it affects qui tam/false claims cases, was recently further clarified by a Sixth Circuit court decision. The False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to bring a civil action in the name of the government, and receive part of the award or […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER California whistleblower lawyers say a new proposed bill could give auto industry employees financial incentive to report product defects or safety violations. A bill proposing to offer financial incentives to auto industry employees who expose safety defects recently won backing from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. […]