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FCA NOW

Government Enforcement and Corporate Investigations Practice Group

Enforcement / Healthcare

28 Jun, 2017

Genesis Healthcare Settlement with Federal Government

Alissa Smith

On June 16, 2017, The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a $53.6 million dollar settlement with Genesis Healthcare Inc. (“Genesis”) over six federal whistleblower lawsuits alleging that subsidiaries of the rehabilitation and transitional care provider violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The original qui tam plaintiffs, former employees of companies acquired by Genesis, will receive a combined $9.67 million dollars in recovery. The settlement resolved...

Procedure / Relators

23 May, 2017

Court Rules that “Upon Information And Belief” Allegations of FCA Violations Leveled Against Competitor Fail to Withstand Pleading Requirements

Peter R. Mayer

A Federal court in Ohio recently dismissed a qui tam lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act by Kustom Products, Inc. against Hupp & Associates, Inc., a defense contractor, and in so doing provided judicial treatment of the common practice of alleging facts “upon information and belief.”  United States ex rel. Kustom Prods. v. Hupp & Assocs., No. 2:15-cv-03101, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72814 (S.D. Ohio May...

Stark Law

4 May, 2017

CMS Issues New SRDP Forms

Laura B. Morgan

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued new Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (“SRDP”) forms, and, beginning June 1, 2017, these SRDP forms will be mandatory for those parties submitting voluntary self-disclosures of actual or potential violations of the federal physician self-referral law (the “Stark Law”) through the SRDP. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act established the SRDP, giving providers and suppliers that may...

Settlements

1 May, 2017

Energy & Process Corp. Settles Whistleblower Action Related to Construction of Nuclear Waste Treatment Facility

Erin Conti

On Monday, April 24, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Energy & Process Corp. agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle False Claims Act allegations concerning the construction of a large nuclear waste treatment facility in South Carolina. The allegations came to light as part of a whistleblower action brought by a former employee of a principal E&P subcontractor in late 2013. The federal...

Intervention / Relators / Settlements

14 Mar, 2017

Court Examines Standard for Approval of Settlement of Qui Tam Over a Relator’s Objection

Betsy Sellers

The False Claims Act (FCA) allows plaintiffs/relators to bring qui tam actions, in which the government may then elect to intervene.  The FCA also provides that “[t]he Government may settle a [qui tam] action with the defendant notwithstanding the objections of the person initiating the action if the court determines, after a hearing, that the proposed settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable under all the...

False Statement / Implied Certification

24 Feb, 2017

Supreme Court Applies Escobar to Reinstate Implied Certification Suit Against Bank Based on Compliance With Fed Rules

Erik Ruda

On Tuesday, February 21, 2017, the Supreme Court summarily vacated the judgment in Bishop v. Wells Fargo & Co. and remanded the case to the Second Circuit in light of the Court’s recent decision in Universal Health Servs. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, which recognized the implied certification liability theory in FCA suits. In Bishop, the plaintiffs originally brought FCA claims against Wells Fargo,...

False Statement / Healthcare

2 Feb, 2017

Alleging Improper Use of Funds Legitimately Obtained from the Government Insufficient to State FCA Retaliation Claim

Ben Kappelman

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has dismissed an FCA retaliation claim brought by a nurse who claimed to have blown the whistle on misuse of funds at a hospital that received significant federal revenue. In Endicott v. Oakbend Medical Center, the nurse alleged she was fired after she complained that several hospital executives were using hospital employee time to enrich...

False Statement / Healthcare / Relators

20 Jan, 2017

Northern District of Illinois Dismisses Whistleblower’s FCA Suit for Failing to Connect Allegations of Misconduct with Submission of False Claims

Nathan Ebnet

In United States ex rel. Keen v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., relator Janice Keen sued her former employer—the pharmaceutical company Teva—for violations of the FCA.  According to Ms. Keen, Teva trained its sales force to misleadingly promote and sell a medicine used to treat muscle spasms.  Ms. Keen alleged that Teva’s deceptive practices caused physicians to prescribe the medicine in situations for which it was...

Fraud-in-the-Inducement / Healthcare

3 Jan, 2017

First Circuit Rejects Fraud-on-the-FDA Theory of FCA Liability

Katherine Arnold

Affirming an earlier order handed down by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the First Circuit recently denied Plaintiff D’Agostino leave to amend his complaint, finding the proposed claims were futile. D’Agostino, et al. v. EV3, Inc. et al., 2016 WL 7422943 (1st Cir. Dec. 23, 2016).  D’Agostino’s complaint alleges False Claims Act (“FCA”) violations related to the Onyx and Axium medical...

Enforcement / Healthcare / Kickbacks

29 Dec, 2016

OIG Creates New AKS Safe Harbors, Codifies Others

Neal N. Peterson

On January 6, 2017, two new safe harbors to the federal anti-kickback statute (the “AKS”) will become effective pursuant to a final rule published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (the “OIG”) on December 7, 2016. The final rule also codifies safe harbors for certain AKS exceptions and makes a technical correction to the existing safe...