HHS Touts FCA Settlement in Spring 2013 Semiannual Report to Congress
The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently reported expected recoveries of approximately $3.8 billion for the first half of fiscal year 2013, which included last year’s $1.5 billion global settlement with pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories to resolve False Claims Act violations.
In its recently released Semiannual Report to Congress (“Semiannual Report”), which covered the period of October 1, 2012, through March 31, 2013, the HHS OIG touted its global settlement with Abbott as well as other settlements and criminal actions. The Semiannual Report is produced to inform Congress and the HHS Secretary of the OIG’s notable findings, recommendations, and activities over specific six-month periods.
The Semiannual Report highlighted the five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with Abbott, described as “a global criminal, civil, and administrative settlement,” that the HHS OIG originally entered into with the pharmaceutical company in May 2012 “to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by improperly marketing and promoting the drug Depakote for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including the treatment of aggression and agitation in elderly dementia patients and the treatment of schizophrenia.”
Of the $3.8 billion that the HHS OIG expected to recover, over $521 million was from audit receivables and approximately $3.28 billion was from investigative receivables. Other activity highlighted in the Semiannual Report included:
- The exclusions of 1,661 individuals and entities from participation in federal health care programs;
- The filing of 484 criminal actions against individuals or entities that engaged in crimes against HHS programs;
- And 240 civil actions, including false claims and unjust-enrichment lawsuits filed in federal district court, civil monetary penalties settlements, and administrative recoveries related to provider self-disclosure matters.
The HHS OIG has said that historically, approximately 80 percent of its resources have been directed to Medicare and Medicaid-related work. In the Semiannual Report, it reported that efforts by the government’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams led to charges against 148 individuals or entities, 139 criminal actions, and $193.7 million in investigative receivables.
