Jan 142021

DOJ Releases Detailed Statistics on FCA Recoveries Through FY 2020

Scott D. Stein and Jaime L.M. Jones
,

On January 14, 2021, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the Civil Division recovered over $2.2 billion in settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act (FCA) for fiscal year 2020. This represents a more than $850 million decrease from last year’s figure and a $3.9 billion decrease from the all-time recovery record in 2014. Detailed statistics on FCA cases from 1986 through FY 2020 are available here.

A few observations on the recovery:

  • More than $1.8 billion of the total recovery is attributable to cases involving healthcare fraud.
  • More than $1.6 billion of the total recovery came from cases filed by whistleblowers.
  • The number of new matters increased by 14%.
  • The percentage of suits initiated by DOJ continues to be substantially lower in healthcare fraud matters than in other kinds of qui tams. Only about 2% of FCA suits in the healthcare context are DOJ-initiated. Put differently, virtually all healthcare FCA cases are whistleblower-initiated.
Scott D. Stein

Chicago

sstein@sidley.com

Jaime L.M. Jones

Chicago

jaimejones@sidley.com

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