On July 17, 2024, the Department of Justice announced that Kindred at Home, a hospice company, agreed to pay $19.428 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that Kindred “knowingly submitted false claims and knowingly retained overpayments for hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible to receive hospice benefits under various federal health care . . .
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Gregg Shapiro Represents Whistleblower In $24.4 Million False Claims Act Settlement With Massachusetts Hospital
On May 16, 2024, the Department of Justice announced that it had reached a $24.4 million settlement with Cape Cod Hospital (CCH) to resolve allegations that Gregg Shapiro’s whistleblower client, a former physician at the hospital, had filed in a False Claims Act qui tam complaint. The whistleblower alleged that CCH had violated the False . . .
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Agrees to Pay $6 Million to Settle Qui Tam Case Brought by Whistleblower Client of Gregg Shapiro Law
On December 21, 2023, the government announced that Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (Ultragenyx) has agreed to pay $6 million to settle a False Claims Act qui tam case that Gregg Shapiro filed in 2021 on behalf of a whistleblower who was then working at Ultragenyx. The whistleblower alleged that Ultragenyx used kickbacks to generate sales of . . .
DOJ Files Statement Of Interest Rebutting Application Of A “But-For” Causation Standard In False Claims Act Cases Predicated On Violations Of The Anti-Kickback Statute
On October 27, 2023, in a declined District of Massachusetts qui tam case called United States ex rel. Witkin v. Medtronic, Inc., the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a sweeping statement of interest on the proper causation standard in False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases predicated on violations of the anti-kickback statute (“AKS”), as well as . . .
Yogibo Agrees to Pay Over $217K to Resolve Customs Fraud Allegations
On July 26, 2023, the Department of Justice announced that it had reached a settlement for $217,832 with bean bag furniture maker Yogibo, LLC, in a customs fraud False Claims Act qui tam action that we initiated last year on behalf of our client, the former Warehouse Manager at a Yogibo facility in Nashua, New . . .
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U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont Poised to Settle Fifth Electronic Health Records False Claims Act Case
According to a press release issued earlier this week, EHR provider NextGen Healthcare, Inc., has accrued approximately $35 million to settle a Department of Justice matter. According to NextGen’s prior SEC filings, the company has been under investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office in Vermont since at least 2017 in connection with the certification . . .
U.S. Attorney’s Office Resolves Second Nursing Home Case Involving Improper Medicare Advantage Disenrollments
Yesterday, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced its second False Claims Act settlement involving allegations of illegal disenrollment of nursing home residents from their Medicare Advantage plans. The settlement serves both as a further warning to nursing home operators not to engage in such conduct, and as a . . .
Update on Causation in False Claims Act Cases Predicated on Violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute
Last week, I posted on the likely limited effect of the Eighth Circuit’s decision in United States ex rel. Cairns v. D.S. Medical, LLC, 42 F.4th 828 (8th Cir. 2022), which held that the government (or the relator) must prove “but-for” causation to show damages in a False Claims Act case predicated on violations of . . .
Recent Developments Suggest That The Cairns Decision Does Not Doom False Claims Act Cases Predicated On Violations Of The Anti-Kickback Statute, Even In The Eighth Circuit
In September 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced that it had obtained a $5,495,931 judgment against Dr. Sonjay Fonn and Deborah Seeger after a trial in a False Claims Act case involving alleged kickbacks to Dr. Fonn from a spinal implant distributorship that Ms. Seeger owned. The amount . . .
What to Do When a Whistleblower Is an Attorney, or the Whistleblower Provides Counsel with Potentially Privileged Documents
For a recent Federal Bar Association Qui Tam conference, I put together a slide presentation that addressed, among other things, issues that arise when a whistleblower is an attorney, or when a whistleblower shares potentially privileged documents with their attorney. I learned some things from researching these issues, so I thought I would share what . . .