Health Law Blog - Healthcare Legal Issues

Archive for December, 2017

DOJ Skilled Nursing Facility Settlement Involving Rehab – Highest Ever

Thursday, December 28th, 2017

Skilled Nursing Facility Single Highest False Claims Act Settlements to Date

Personal Care Agency Fraud2017 saw the largest recovery from a skilled nursing facility under the False Claim Act.  Life Care Centers of America Inc. and its owner agreed to pay $145 million to settle allegations that it caused skilled nursing facilities to submit false claims for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, or skilled.  The government’s case alleged that Life Care instituted corporate-wide policies and practices designed to place beneficiaries in the highest level of Medicare reimbursement.  High reimbursement categories were encouraged irrespective of the clinical needs of the patients.  The case alleged that this resulted unreasonable and unnecessary therapy to to be provided to many beneficiaries.

Health Care Leads in Fraud Recoveries in 2017

Thursday, December 28th, 2017

fraud recovery doj report 2017Health Care Leads With $2.4 Billion Fraud Recoveries in 2017

The United States Department of Justice recently released a summary of recoveries from False Claims Act cases for Fiscal Year 2017.  The report, which was released in late December 2017, indicates that the DOJ recovered over $3.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims during 2017.

One thing is evident when examining the report.  The lion’s share of recoveries come from the health care industry.  Almost $2.5 billion of the $3.7 billion in total recoveries involved health care providers and others in the health care industry.  This is not a new trend.  Health care has led in recoveries with over $2 billion per year for the past 8 years in a row.

The department’s health care fraud program is intended to restore assets to federally funded programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE.  By all reports, health care fraud and abuse recovery is big business for the Federal government.  The details vary, but reports indicate that the government receives between seven and ten times return on every dollar it spends on pursuing health care fraud and abuse cases.  Recent revisions to Federal False Claims Act penalties increased the maximum penalty per claim from $11,000 to $22,000.  This increase is likely to result in even more aggressive enforcement and an even higher percentage return on the government’s investment in this area.

The high potential financial exposure is intended to deter others from committing health care fraud.  Additionally, the high potential exposure provides an incentive for providers to put in place proactive compliance programs to help identify errors and instances of noncompliance that could eventually result in unmanageable penalties if allowed to emerge through discovery by government audits or a whistleblower complaint.  It is generally much preferable for a provider to discover and correct a problem on its own initiative rather than exposing itself to draconian penalties.

Federal Government Will Seek Dismissal of False Claims Act Cases That Lack Merit

Monday, December 11th, 2017

The FCA is a federal law aimed at combatting fraud against the U.S. government.  The FCA has been around since 1863, in response to contractors who defrauded the Union Army by selling it defective weapons, ammunition, and equipment and unhealthy and unfit food and animals.

A prime feature of the FCA is what is called the “qui tam” provision, under which a private citizen, known as a “relator” (otherwise known as a whistleblower), can sue on behalf of the government and be paid a percentage of the amount recovered (generally 15% to 30%) plus legal fees.  Health care and military-related industries have been particularly popular targets of FCA whistleblower actions.  Under the FCA, the DOJ has 60 days within which to decide to prosecute the claim or decline involvement.  If the DOJ decides not to be involved, the relator has to decide whether to proceed alone.

Up to now, it has been the position of the government that the relator is free to continue a case that the government declines to prosecute.  Now, however, the DOJ will file a motion with the court urging it to dismiss the case if it believes it is frivolous.  The DOJ’s rationale for its new policy is that frivolous litigation imposes a burden on the government, the courts, and the health care industry.

It is important to note that this change in policy affects only those cases that the DOJ believes have no merit.  By no means should this cause any reduced emphasis on compliance activities.  It is also not known how DOJ will determine that a case is frivolous.  What is known is that this is a major shift from the policy of the previous administration and could have significant implications for the health care sector.

John H. Fisher

Health Care Counsel
Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C.
500 First Street, Suite 8000
P.O. Box 8050
Wausau, WI 54402-8050

Tel 715.845.4336
Fax 715.845.2718

Ruder Ware is a member of Meritas Law Firms Worldwide

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