Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to provide its annual Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Review, which highlights significant enforcement trends and legal developments, discusses recent cases and settlements affecting the healthcare industry, and provides an outlook on what lies ahead in 2016.
During the previous year, Bass, Berry & Sims attorneys have represented virtually every
Matt Curley was interviewed by Becker’s Hospital Review in connection with an article dated February 10, 2016, about how healthcare providers can take practical steps to reduce the risk of employees and third parties pursuing whistleblower lawsuits when they encounter potential compliance issues. The comments below expand upon that interview.
Healthcare providers receiving reimbursement from government payers know there is a significant risk of encountering whistleblowers under the False Claims Act. Last year, there were more than 600 new whistleblower lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act. And, during the previous five years, there have been nearly 3400 new False Claims Act lawsuits filed by whistleblowers.
Whistleblowers received nearly $600 million in FY 2015 year as their share of the proceeds of False Claims Act judgments and settlements. That amount brought total recoveries during the previous five years to nearly $2.5 billion.
With the often times protracted, expensive, and disruptive government investigations that can follow the filing of a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claim Act, practical measures that can reduce the possibility of whistleblower activity are certainly worth consideration.Continue Reading Practical Tips to Prevent Whistleblowers
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Brian Roark was interviewed for an article in Becker’s Hospital Review and identified five trends that will impact False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries in 2016. Several case rulings from 2015 and a shift in government focus has the potential to allow for continued financial recoveries in the coming year, especially
What do the recent multimillion dollar FCA settlements tell healthcare providers about physician compensation arrangements? Standing alone, these settlements are cautionary examples of arrangements that may subject hospitals and physicians to increased scrutiny. These settlements, however, come on the heels of the recent OIG fraud alert – “Physician Compensation Arrangements May Result in Significant Liability,”
Among the many changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), few have generated as much discussion as Section 6402(d), requiring healthcare providers to report and return any overpayment within 60 days of the date the overpayment is “identified” or risk liability under the FCA for a “reverse” false claim. Providers have grappled with how and
In a welcomed move, CMS has proposed changes to the federal physician self-referral law (Stark Law) designed to improve consistency and interpretability and alleviate the number of technical violations leading to self-disclosures. This move is in stark (pun-intended) contrast to the stringent interpretation of the Stark Law by the Fourth Circuit in its decision in
The False Claims Act (FCA) is just one of the handful of federal laws that government contractors must adhere to or they run the risk of prosecution by a federal agency, such as the DOJ or SEC. As cited in an article I recently co-authored, “[t]he civil penalty for FCA violations can be significant, with
Matt Curley, John Kelly and Shuchi Parikh authored an article outlining the dangers of data misreporting for Medicare Advantage organizations and Medicare prescription drug plans. The article identifies areas of potential liability to help organizations avoid enforcement activity related to fraud and abuse allegations.
The article, “Data Misreporting Risks for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug
We recently authored an article examining the rise in states developing their own false claims act statutes and how this expansion is impacting government contractors. The article offers tips to government contractors on ways to mitigate the risk of state false claims actions.
The full article, “The Expanding Risk Of State FCA Actions,”
We recently authored an article on False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement actions brought against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers during the past year. In the article, we analyzed the recent settlements for Ansun Biopharma, Inc. (formerly known as NexBio, Inc.); Smith & Nephew, Inc.; McKesson Corporation; and Stryker Corporation and Alliant Enterprises.
The article, “