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Matt Curley

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Matt Curley is co-chair of the Bass, Berry & Sims Healthcare Fraud Task Force and represents clients in connection with internal and governmental investigations and related civil and criminal proceedings, particularly involving matters of fraud and abuse within the healthcare industry. Matt has considerable experience in litigating matters under the False Claims Act (FCA) and in representing clients in actions and investigations brought by government regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and various state agencies.

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The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine judicial review of FCA settlements and recent cases considering this issue.

In U.S. ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Cmty., Inc., the Fourth Circuit considered the scope of DOJ’s authority to review and ultimately veto a settlement reached by relators and the defendants.  The panel had little difficulty affirming the district court’s determination that DOJ’s veto authority in this regard is unreviewable.Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Judicial Review of Settlements

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine developments regarding penalties and damages under the FCA, which make the FCA such a potent enforcement tool for the government.

For providers facing potential FCA liability, the potential scope of exposure will continue to expand, whether driven by a nearly doubled increase in the penalties recoverable under the FCA, large negotiated settlements backed-up by statistical extrapolation of false claims, or the significant increase in relator-driven litigation in government-declined cases. Questions regarding the manner in which FCA damages should be calculated also are likely to persist.Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Developments Regarding Penalties and Damages

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine the FCA’s first-to-file rule and its impact on a relator’s right to pursue FCA claims.
Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: FCA’s First-to-File Bar

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine the FCA’s public disclosure bar and recent cases considering whether disclosures are sufficient to bar FCA claims.

The FCA’s public disclosure bar prevents a relator from filing a qui tam complaint based on information previously disclosed to the public, thereby dissuading parasitic lawsuits based on publicly available information. In cases considering the scope of the public disclosure bar, courts have continued to examine the issue of how or to whom information must be disseminated in order to constitute a “public disclosure,” which often has resulted in a narrowing of the public disclosure bar’s scope in a given case. Such cases marked a shift away from decisions favorable to FCA defendants toward a more nuanced and specific application of the public disclosure bar.Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Original Sources under the FCA’s Public Disclosure Bar

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA.  This week, we examine the requirement that a relator plead and prove that a defendant acted with the requisite level of knowledge to establish an FCA claim and evaluate how courts have evaluated this issue in recent cases.

To prevail in FCA cases, relators or the government must prove that the defendant acted with the requisite level of knowledge in connection with the FCA allegations at issue. In a number of cases, defendants made considerable headway in convincing courts to scrutinize allegations of knowledge closely, particularly in instances where defendants argued that the underlying conduct at issue was governed by ambiguous statutes or regulations.Continue Reading Deeper Dive: Meeting the FCA’s Intent Requirement

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will continue to take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine recent court decisions that considered the question of objective falsity in connection with FCA cases based on an alleged lack of medical necessity of the healthcare services provided to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs.
Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Objective Falsity and Medical Necessity Cases

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we are taking a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine recent court decisions following Escobar that considered the express certification theory of FCA liability.
Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Express Certification

In the recent past, the government has racked up a number of FCA settlements based on alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).  This focus undoubtedly will remain a high enforcement priority.

In U.S. ex rel. Williams v. Health Management Associates Inc. and U.S. v. Atlanta Medical Center, Inc., Tenet Healthcare Corporation and two of its Atlanta-area hospitals, Atlanta Medical Center and North Fulton Hospital, agreed to pay more than $513 million to resolve civil and criminal allegations of AKS and FCA violations.  Between 2000 and 2013, Atlanta Medical and North Fulton allegedly paid prenatal clinics for referring patients, many of whom were undocumented and indigent, to its labor and delivery, postnatal and infant services.  Using sham contracts, the hospitals allegedly paid the clinics for unnecessary, duplicative or substandard translation services, which in certain cases were not actually provided.  Tenet allegedly concealed the underlying purpose of the contracts from its legal counsel and violated the terms of its previously-entered CIA with HHS-OIG, which related to a 2006 settlement for $900 million to resolve allegations of fraudulent billing and AKS violations.Continue Reading FCA Issues to Watch: Intersection of the FCA and the Anti-Kickback Statute

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine the Supreme Court’s opinion in Escobar and its impact on the question of the FCA’s materiality requirement.

In addition to tackling the viability of the implied certification theory of liability in Escobar, the Supreme Court also held that the FCA does not restrict liability to noncompliance with express conditions of payment, stating that “[w]hether a provision is labeled a condition of payment is relevant to but not dispositive of the materiality inquiry.”  The Supreme Court explained that any concerns about fair notice or open-ended liability without such a restriction on liability can be addressed through “strict enforcement” of the FCA’s “demanding” and “rigorous” materiality requirement, as well as the FCA’s scienter requirement. Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Escobar and Its Aftermath – Part II

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we are taking a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine the Supreme Court’s opinion in Escobar and its impact on the theory of implied certification.
Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Escobar and Its Aftermath – Part I

From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network
From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network

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