featured news

Availability of Information Online Does Not Automatically Bar Qui Tam Action

The Public Disclosure Bar in False Claims Act Cases A provision of the False Claims Act commonly referred to as the Public Disclosure Bar stops relators from pursuing actions on behalf of the government if the “transactions and allegations” of fraud have been publicly disclosed through various sources listed in […]

Failure to Accurately Report Drug Prices Constitutes Medicare and Medicaid Fraud

On August 5, 2019, the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois issued a rare ruling granting partial summary judgment for plaintiff-relators in a False Claims Act case. United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu, Inc. et al., No. 11-3290, 2019 WL 3558483 (C.D.Ill. Aug. 5, 2019). […]

Medicare Would “Likely” Not Pay for Hospice Care for Deceased Patients

If one reads between the lines of a May 7, 2019 opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (covering Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi), it appears that the court comes to the seemingly unremarkable conclusion that Medicare would not intentionally pay for hospice care for patients who […]

Court Defends “Professional” Relator Against Government Overreach

In U.S. ex rel. CIMZNHCA v. UCB, Inc., 2019 WL 1598109 (S.D. Ill. Apr. 15, 2019), the court denied the Government’s motion to dismiss a facially valid case alleging illegal kickbacks. The relator is a limited liability holding company of an entity called the National Health Care Analysis Group, which […]

Government Joins Case Involving Drug Manufacturer’s Illegal Payments of Patient Co-Pays on Expensive Drug

The Department of Justice, with the Office of the United States Attorney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, recently joined a lawsuit filed by private whistleblowers against Mallinckrodt ARD LLC, a drug manufacturer. The Government’s complaint was filed on June 4, 2019, although the case had initially been filed in […]