AstraZeneca and Cephalon have both reached settlements with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), totaling $54 million. AstraZeneca has agreed to pay the United States and participating states a total of $46.5 million with interest. Cephalon, which is now owned by Teva, has agreed to pay the United States and…
In the largest False Claims Act settlement in which the government did not intervene, DaVita Healthcare Partners has come to an agreement to pay the government $450 million. The false claims lawsuit involved DaVita’s largest division, DaVita Kidney Care. The division was accused of intentionally wasting medicine in order to…
Children’s National Medical Center Inc. has agreed to pay $12.9 million to settle two allegations of defrauding the government in violation of the False Claims Act. The first claim alleged that Children’s National, which has since changed its name to National Health System, inflated its cost reports which forced the…
A federal judge in Pennsylvania has allowed the majority of a relator’s False Claims Act case against Cephalon Inc. to proceed, alleging a kickback scheme involving off-label drug marketing. Treanda is a chemotherapy drug that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) in October 2008 as a…
A settlement of $7.5 million has been reached between Orbit Medical, Inc., Rehab Medical, Inc. and the US Department of Justice, concluding a five-year lawsuit. This lawsuit was brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Two former employees of Orbit Medical, Dustin Clyde and Tyler Jackson, will receive 20%…
Dr. Alon Vainer’s discovery of alleged waste at a DaVita clinic has led to a $495 million settlement. DaVita, which specializes in treating patients with kidney problems through dialysis, agreed to settle the False Claims Act suit this month. The complaint alleged that DaVita defrauded the government of hundreds of…
CVS Caremark Corporation (“CVS”) allegedly used $5 discount coupons to attract Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to fill prescriptions at its stores in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. Relator Richard Carmel is arguing that the coupons do not fall under an exemption that allows providers to offer items of nominal value.…
Three relators are alleging that AIDS Healthcare Foundation Inc. (“AHF”) violated the federal False Claims Act, the Florida False Claims Act, and the Anti-Kickback Statute through a fraudulent scheme to generate consumer demand for its programs. It was allegedly designed to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and HIV/AIDS grant programs sponsored by…
Frontier Home Health and Hospice LLC (“Frontier”) filed a complaint yesterday against Amedisys Holding, L.L.C. and Amedisys, Inc. (collectively, “Amedisys”), alleging that the company lied about its fraudulent billing of Medicare in the sale of a group of Wyoming hospices to Frontier. Frontier allegedly learned after it acquired the business…
Yesterday the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit revived the False Claims Act case against Universal Health Services Inc. (“Universal Health”) filed by two relators that alleges that the company improperly billed the government for mental health services provided by unsupervised and unqualified staff. Universal Health owns and operates…