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.

(more…)