On February 8, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota ruled that a $487 million False Claims Act (FCA) damages award entered last year against Precision Lens and its co-founder violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines and ordered the judgment reduced by more than half. Continue Reading District Court Finds that $487 Million False Claims Act Judgment Violates Eighth Amendment

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) offered the industry new and updated guidance tools and a late flurry of advisory opinions. Join us on February 27 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. CT for a webinar in which we will provide a high-level overview of 2023’s most significant and helpful guidance documents.  Continue Reading Register Now | HHS-OIG Year in Review Webinar

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is tasked with providing objective oversight to protect the integrity and promote the efficiency of Medicare, Medicaid, and more than 100 other federal healthcare programs, as well as the health and welfare of the people they serve.
Continue Reading HHS-OIG Year in Review 2023

Bass, Berry & Sims will release its 12th Annual Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Review in early February 2024. As a companion to the Review, we will host a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, February 20 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. CT, which will provide an overview and discussion of key focus areas covered in the Review.Continue Reading Register Now | Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Annual Review Webinar

A qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) complaint was recently unsealed against Cerebral, a telehealth startup that provides virtual mental-health therapy, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.  Continue Reading False Claims Act Case Unsealed Against Cerebral, Showing Continued Scrutiny of Telehealth Prescriptions

Two Massachusetts federal district courts recently addressed—and disagreed about—an important False Claims Act (FCA) issue that has also divided the federal circuit courts: when an alleged FCA violation is based on an underlying violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), what kind of causal link must the government or a relator show between the alleged AKS violation and the allegedly false claim for payment?
Continue Reading District Courts Wrestle with Causation in Kickback Cases While Circuit Courts Remain Divided

We were each quoted in a Law360 article examining the status of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) on the 50th anniversary of the law’s passing, and offered our perspective, informed by both our practices advising healthcare providers on AKS issues and our experience as government attorneys dealing with AKS issues, on the legal challenges and disputes among the courts on how to apply the AKS and the current state of the enforcement environment encountered by healthcare providers as it relates specifically to AKS issues. Continue Reading Impact of Anti-Kickback Statute on Its 50th Anniversary