Posts Tagged ‘whistleblower lawsuit’
Whistleblower Protections: Is it Worth the Risk?
DOJ Intervenes in FCA Lawsuit Filed Against Medical Device Maker
The U.S. Department of Justice has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against medical device maker Life Spine Inc., along with the company’s founder and its VP for Business Development. The lawsuit alleges that the company paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to surgeons in exchange for using its spinal implants, equipment and other devices.…
Read MoreThe Granston Memo One Year Later
Last year, we wrote about an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Justice addressing the dismissal of qui tam (whistleblower) cases. The Granston Memo, so named because it was written by DOJ’s Director of Civil Fraud Section Michael Granston, outlined various factors government prosecutors should use to evaluate whether a False Claims Act (FCA)…
Read MoreJudge: Third Try Won’t be the Charm for Whistleblower
A U.S. District Court Judge earlier this month tossed a whistleblower lawsuit filed against a Florida compounding pharmacy finding that the former sales representative who filed the initial lawsuit in 2013 failed to make sufficient pleadings. However, defendant RS Compounding LLC in Tampa is not completely off the hook. The government intervened in, and the…
Read MoreThe FCA and the Use of Statistical Sampling
The U.S. Department of Justice late last month agreed to a $275,000 settlement in a False Claims Act case against a South Carolina-based company that operates elder care facilities. What’s significant about this case is that two years earlier, the DOJ rejected a significantly higher – $2.5 million – settlement. In the initial case, United…
Read MoreOIG Cracks Down on Hospice Provider Fraud
Last year, the HHS Office of the Inspector General stated the hospice fraud was rampant and that it would be an enforcement priority for the agency. The OIG found that some hospice operators, doctors and staff were recruiting patients to maximize profits, even when in some cases the patients didn’t need hospice care. Their illegal…
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