DOJ Settles FCA Case Alleging Medically Unnecessary Telehealth Visits, Claws Back PPP Money

This week DOJ announced one of the first civil settlements under the FCA involving abuse of the pandemic flexibilities that the Department of Health and Human Services used to authorize broader use of telehealth during the COVID public health emergency.  Physician Partners of America (“PPOA”) agreed to pay $24.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the FCA by billing for medically unnecessary telehealth visits, and by submitting claims for medically unnecessary genetic, psychological, and urine drug tests and claims tainted by violations of the Stark Law.  While DOJ has previously engaged in criminal enforcement actions relating to abuse of the telehealth waiver flexibilities, as discussed further here, this case represents an expansion of telehealth enforcement scrutiny to the civil side. (more…)

New Pharmacy, Same Result: Seventh Circuit Holds That Objective Reasonableness Dooms “Usual and Customary” Pricing Case

On April 5, 2022, in a 2-1 decision, the Seventh Circuit applied the precedent it set in United States ex. rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., 9 F.4th 455 (7th Cir. 2021) (discussed here) and found once again that a defendant retail pharmacy did not act with “reckless disregard” under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by interpreting Medicare Part D and Medicaid “usual and customary” price requirements as allowing it to charge those programs its retail cash prices rather than prices offered through discount programs. United States ex rel. Proctor v. Safeway, Inc., No. 20-3425, 2022 WL 1012256 (7th Cir. Apr. 5, 2022). (more…)

District Court Again Dismisses Anti-Kickback Statute Claim Related to Medical Devices Used in Bariatric Surgeries

A court in the District of Maryland again dismissed a declined qui tam action in which the relator, a bariatric surgeon, alleged that two medical device companies violated the AKS by providing surgeons with free advertising in exchange for physicians using the companies’ LAP-BAND medical devices in bariatric surgeries. See United States ex rel. Fitzer v. Allergan, Inc., 17-cv-00668 (D. Md. Mar. 22, 2022).  We reported on the court’s prior dismissal of the relator’s second amended complaint for failure adequately to plead a knowing and willful violation of the AKS here. Relator fared no better on his third attempt; as the court found, he failed to adequately plead presentment and causation. (more…)

DOJ’s First “Cyber-Fraud” Settlement Targets Healthcare Provider

Yesterday DOJ announced its first settlement under the Department’s new “Cyber-Fraud Initiative.”  This initiative, announced in October 2021, aims to “utilize the False Claims Act to pursue cybersecurity related fraud by government contractors and grant recipients.”  However, as discussed further here, in addition to targeting traditional government contractors, the initiative presents broader opportunities for DOJ to use the FCA to address data protection practices by healthcare providers.

The healthcare industry is consistently the recipient of disproportionate oversight under the FCA, and thus it is perhaps no surprise that DOJ’s first settlement under the Cyber-Fraud Initiative was with a healthcare provider.  As announced here, a healthcare provider furnishing medical services on air force bases paid $930,000 to resolve allegations that it “violated the False Claims Act by falsely representing to the State Department and the Air Force that it complied with contract requirements relating to the provision of medical services.”  The settlement also resolved allegations relating to controlled substances. (more…)

Court Agrees With DOJ That FMV Payments Can Be Kickbacks

On February 23, 2022, a district court in the Central District of California denied a defendant’s motion to dismiss a qui tam suit premised on alleged Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) violations, holding that “even some fair-market-value payments will qualify as illegal kickbacks.” See United States ex rel. Chao v. Medtronic PLC, No. 17-cv-1903 (C.D. Cal.).

The relator’s operative complaint argued that the defendant, a manufacturer of medical devices, violated the FCA by offering kickbacks in various forms to reward physicians for using the defendant’s devices.  Among other arguments, the defendant urged the court to dismiss the complaint because the relator failed to allege that certain payments to physicians for proctoring other physicians on how to use the medical devices exceeded fair market value (“FMV”). As such, the defendant contended, the relator failed to address the potential applicability of the AKS’s personal services safe harbor. (more…)

DOJ Statistics on FCA Recoveries Through FY 2021 Reveal Continued Focus on Healthcare and More Direct Government Enforcement

On February 1, 2022, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division, Brian M. Boynton, announced that the Civil Division recovered over $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) for fiscal year 2021.  This is the second largest annual total in FCA history and a significant increase from the $2.2 billion recovered during fiscal year 2020.  Detailed statistics on FCA recoveries from 1986 through FY 2021 are available here. (more…)

First Circuit Joins Circuit Split on FCA Dismissal Authority, Finds Government Has Broad Authority to Dismiss FCA Cases

On January 21, 2022, the First Circuit affirmed the government’s request for dismissal of a whistleblower complaint alleging that several pharmaceutical companies had colluded to defraud Medicare Part D. The government, after declining to intervene, requested dismissal based on its finding that: (1) the suit would require “substantial expenditure of government resources”; (2) “many key aspects of [the relator’s] allegations [we]re not supported”; and (3) “allegations that [the relator] used the qui tam process to leverage his financial interests through securities trading .  . . convince[d] the [g]overnment that [the relator was] not an appropriate advocate of the United States’ interests.” (more…)

Fourth Circuit Applies Safeco to FCA Claims, Accuses CMS of “Maintaining Strategic Ambiguity” Around Medicaid Drug Rebate Program Requirements

In a recent 2-1 decision, the Fourth Circuit joined every other circuit to have considered the issue in applying Safeco’s “reckless disregard” standard to legally false FCA claims based on alleged violations of ambiguous laws and regulations.  Under Safeco, courts ask whether a defendant’s interpretation of the ambiguous law or regulation at issue was objectively reasonable and whether authoritative guidance might have warned the defendant away from that interpretation.  The Fourth Circuit found that the Safeco standard “duly ensures that defendants must be put on notice before facing liability for allegedly failing to comply with complex legal requirements.  Without such notice, defendants are not likely to receive due process.”

(more…)

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