DOJ Begins Memorializing Basis for Cooperation Credit in FCA Settlement Agreements

Recently, DOJ quietly began implementing what appears to be a new policy to memorialize in FCA settlements the basis for the settling company earning credit for various forms of cooperation.

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Chiding DOJ for “Inexcusable” Delay in Deciding to Intervene, Fifth Circuit Makes Notable Determinations on Materiality and Statute of Limitations

Chastising DOJ for asking eighteen times to extend the seal period, the Fifth Circuit recently held that due to its “dilatory conduct,” DOJ could not avail itself of the FCA’s tolling provision.  In the same opinion, the court held that continued reimbursement does not defeat materiality where there are “valid reasons why an agency may continue to pay claims despite allegations of fraud.”

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Court Certifies Interlocutory Appeal to First Circuit on Causation Standard Connecting AKS Violations and the FCA

Last week a court in the District of Massachusetts took the rare step of allowing an FCA defendant to pursue an interlocutory appeal arising from the summary judgment stage of an FCA case in which DOJ is seeking $10 billion in damages and penalties.  The question on appeal asks the First Circuit to take a side in an expanding circuit split on the requisite causation requirement for AKS violations to trigger FCA liability.

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Ninth Circuit Excludes Inter Partes Review Proceedings from Public Disclosure Bar and Greenlights Relator’s Qui Tam Claims Based on Patent Activity

In a recent decision, United States ex rel. Silbersher v. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Int’l Inc., 2023 WL 4940429 (9th Cir. Aug. 3, 2023) (“Valeant”), the Ninth Circuit ruled that the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) public disclosure bar does not apply to inter partes review (“IPR”) proceedings—holding that, unlike patent prosecutions, IPRs are not a qualifying channel for disclosures under the bar.  The panel also ruled that the qualifying disclosures the Valeant defendants did identify did “not disclose a combination of facts sufficient to permit a reasonable inference of fraud.” The panel’s decision reversed a district court’s conclusion that the bar did apply, greenlighting the relator’s lawsuit to proceed to its merits.

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First Court of Appeals to Apply Polansky Upholds DOJ’s Dismissal

The Eleventh Circuit recently became the first Court of Appeals to apply the Supreme Court’s decision in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., 143 S. Ct. 1720 (2023), when it affirmed a district court’s decision to grant DOJ’s motion to dismiss a qui tam suit over a relator’s objections.  In Polansky, which we analyzed in detail here, the Supreme Court held that the United States may move to dismiss under 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(2)(A) regardless of when it intervened in the case and that courts should review any such motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a).  The Eleventh Circuit’s decision underscores the United States’ broad dismissal power in False Claims Act cases.

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Data Analytics Firm Files Qui Tam Based on Billing Outliers

Earlier this month, a federal court unsealed a declined qui tam complaint filed by a data analytics firm based on identification of Medicare billing outliers.  See United States ex rel. Lincoln Analytics, Inc. v. Global Integrated Medical Group, Inc., No. 2:22-cv-06501 (C.D. Cal.).  Despite asserting a claim as an original source, the relator, Lincoln Analytics, Inc., appears to have assembled its allegations through its own analysis of Medicare data and a single interview.  DOJ has increasingly been deploying data analytics to develop FCA cases (as discussed here and here) and this unsealed complaint demonstrates that relators are also beginning to use data analytics in a similar manner.

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Supreme Court Affirms Broad DOJ Dismissal Authority

On June 16, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, affirming that courts should grant DOJ motions to dismiss over relator objections “in all but the most exceptional cases.”  Prior coverage of this case is here and here.

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Qui Tam Alleges Hospital Fraud Relating to Provider Relief Fund “High Impact” Payment

Earlier this month, a federal court unsealed a qui tam complaint against several New Jersey hospitals, management services organizations, and the hospitals’ Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer for allegedly refusing to return CARES Act Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) money for which the hospitals knew they were not eligible, and for allegedly using PRF money for impermissible purposes.  See United States ex rel. Singh v. Hudson Hospital OPCO, LLC, No 21-cv-19788 (D.N.J. Nov. 5, 2021).  This case is noteworthy because it is one of the first unsealed qui tam complaints raising allegations about ineligibility for, and misuse of, PRF payments.

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