The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a relator’s qui tam lawsuit under the FCA’s public disclosure bar and, in doing so, concluded that the ACA’s amendments to the public disclosure bar created grounds for dismissal for failure to state a claim, rather than for lack of jurisdiction. In U.S. ex rel. Osheroff v. Humana, Inc., the relator alleged that various Florida-based clinics and health insurers violated the FCA through the provision of various services to patients as kickbacks designed to induce and influence the patients’ healthcare decision-making. Defendants pointed to allegations in state court litigation and news media as publicly disclosing the allegations upon which the relator based his qui tam lawsuit, and the district court agreed.
Continue Reading Eleventh Circuit Refines Public Disclosure Bar Standards
Brian Roark
Brian Roark is co-chair of the Bass, Berry & Sims Healthcare Fraud Task Force and concentrates his practice on representing healthcare clients in responding to governmental investigations and defending False Claims Act lawsuits. He has successfully litigated and resolved numerous healthcare fraud matters involving hospitals and health systems, ambulatory surgery centers, hospices, home health companies, drug and alcohol abuse treatment centers, Medicare Advantage companies, and other healthcare providers.
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