Two former employees of Florida-based Liberty Medical Supply, a supplier of diabetes medication and equipment and a subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions Inc. and Polymedica Corp., have filed a lawsuit against the company and several related subsidiaries under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The whistleblowers, both of whom held a…
St. Jude Medical, a Canadian medical device manufacturer, announced on Thursday that it would pay $3.65 million as an offer of settlement to dispose of allegations that it was overcharging buyers to replace the company’s pacemakers and defibrillators that were under warranty. The allegations were initially brought by two whistleblowers…
An imbroglio involving an alleged kickback scheme perpetrated by employees of a San Francisco-based garbage collection company has shone a spotlight on the perils faced by individuals who go public with information concerning potential fraud committed against the government, and the importance of robust protections at all levels of government…
In its opinion handed down today in United States ex rel. Goldberg v. Rush University Medical Center, the Seventh Circuit reaffirmed a broad understanding of the public disclosure bar in the False Claims Act (“FCA”). Prior to 2009, the statutory language barred suits “based upon” allegations which had previously been…
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit released its opinion on Tuesday in the case of United States ex rel. Davis v. District of Columbia, No. 11-7039 (D.C. Cir. May, 15 2012), rejecting the Circuit’s previous restrictive reading of the “original source” provision of the False…
The Center for Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., a radiology and diagnostic company based in X and operating facilities in seven states, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve False Claims Act charges against the company. The charges were brought by two whistleblowers, a former executive of the company and a…
Abbott Labratories Inc., manufacturer of the pharmaceutical drug Depakote, has pleaded guilty to charges that the company misbranded Depakote by promoting unapproved uses of the drug to control schizophrenia as well as agitation and aggression in elderly patient with dementia, when neither use was approved by the Food and Drug…
A federal appeals court in Boston, Massachusetts issued a decision on Monday, reversing a federal district court’s earlier decision in a False Claims Act case filed by a whistleblower against Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and two doctors heading the process of researching and preparing an application to the National Institutes…
The American Hopsital Association (AHA) recently issued critical comments in response to a proposed rule concerning the reporting and returning of overpayments paid to health care providers and suppliers by a federal health care program such as Medicare and Medicaid. The proposed rule, issued on February 16, 2012 and listed in…
National life insurers MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. are the target of a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the two life insurers the Minnesota False Claims Act by failing to notify families of the deceased policy holder or appropriate government officials as required by state law. According to the recently unsealed…