District of Massachusetts Adopts But-For Causation Test for FCA Claims Premised on AKS Violations

As reported last week here, the Chief Judge of the District of Massachusetts held that a claim “result[s] from” a kickback only if the defendant would not have included particular items or services in the claim but for the kickback.  United States v. Regeneron Pharma., Inc., No. 20-11217-FDS (D. Mass. Sept. 27, 2023).  In so holding, the court aligned itself with decisions in the Sixth and Eighth Circuits, and rejected the Third Circuit’s looser standard that a false claim “result[s] from” a kickback where a patient was merely “exposed to an illegal recommendation or referral” and a physician submitted a claim “pertaining to that patient.”  We have previously reported on this circuit split here and here.

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District of Massachusetts Adopts But-For Causation Test for FCA Claims Premised on AKS Violations

On September 27, 2023, the District of Massachusetts, assessing the causation standard linking Anti-Kickback Statute violations to FCA liability, determined that a claim “result[s] from” a kickback only if the defendant would not have included particular items or services in the claim but for the kickback.  We have previously written about the circuit split on this issue here and here.  We will follow up with an additional post describing the court’s opinion, available here, in greater detail.

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