On January 23, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected a challenge to Advisory Opinion 22-19 (the “Advisory Opinion”) issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services,...more
On February 20, 2025, during a speech to the Federal Bar Association’s annual qui tam conference, Michael Granston, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Commercial Litigation Branch at the U.S. Department of Justice...more
In United States ex rel. Feliciano v. Ardoin, the D.C. Circuit joined every other circuit to consider the issue, holding that a pro se litigant cannot bring a False Claims Act (FCA) case. The court’s reasoning was...more
Revisions to the Health Over Wealth Act, a bill aimed at increasing transparency for private equity (PE) firms, introduced July 25, 2024, have removed assisted living facilities from its list of covered entities. However, the...more
Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey held that a private company, Allstate Insurance Company, could proceed with its whistleblower action against a clinical laboratory, Phoenix Toxicology and Lab...more
This past summer, in United States v. Booker, a North Carolina district court ruled against a challenge to the constitutionality of Congress’s delegation of authority to promulgate safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statue...more
In United States v. Regeneron, the District of Massachusetts Court recently joined the Sixth and Eighth Circuits in requiring the government to show a direct tie between kickbacks and referrals that proximately caused claims...more
A large damage award serves as a significant reminder to file an appearance in a False Claims Act (FCA) case.
In late August of 2022, the Government filed suit against AZ Diabetic and the owner, Hisham Zaghal (Zaghal),...more
Recently, two ophthalmology practice groups — Kleiman Evangelista Eye Centers of Texas (KEEC) and SouthEast Eye Specialists, PLLC (SEES) — reached large settlements with the U.S. government over allegations that the groups’...more
On Sept. 13, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced a settlement with Oliver Street Dermatology Management LLC. Oliver Street agreed to pay the United States $8.892 million to resolve...more
On March 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted the parties’ joint stipulation for dismissal in U.S. ex. rel. Godsholl v. Covenant Healthcare, following three settlements of the...more
In U.S. v. Genesis Global Healthcare, 2023 WL 3656925 (S.D. Ga. May 25, 2023), a Georgia district court denied three (3) Motions to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint filed in a qui tam action brought by relators under the...more
Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma granted Washington state’s motion to intervene to transfer venue to the Western District of Washington in James Siegel, M.D. v. Novo Nordisk,...more
A Kansas federal court recently ruled against the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in litigation arising out of a discovery dispute brought by the relator and defendant in a separate, pending FCA action. See...more
On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of whistleblower plaintiffs (referred to as “relators”) in consolidated False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases in a decision that clarified the application of the FCA’s...more
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has announced that it is expanding the topics it considers for new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) submitted by healthcare stakeholders. OIG will now answer general questions about the...more
A Texas federal court recently denied a pharmaceutical supplier’s motion to dismiss claims brought by a whistleblower under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) alleging violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and...more
On January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to petitioners in two False Claims Act cases to determine whether the False Claims Act’s knowledge requirement reaches defendants who can offer an...more
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgement against an employee-whistleblower who had claimed that her former employer retaliated against her in violation of the False Claims Act’s...more
An Ohio Court of Appeals recently weighed in on the proper protocols one must take in order to successfully assert one’s Fifth Amendment Constitutional Right against self-incrimination in relation to a discovery request in a...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland recently weighed in on the appropriate causation standard when evaluating whether a claim “result[s] from” a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute sufficient to constitute...more
In Conte v. Kingston NH Operations LLC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21686, *1, 2022 WL 356753, a New York District court granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss an employee’s false claims allegations under the False Claims Act (the...more
Last month, the Central District of California granted the government’s affirmative motion for partial summary judgment in U.S. v. Reliance Medical Sys., 2022 WL 524062 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2022). The Reliance Medical case...more
On March 18, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Connecticut Attorney General announced that a Connecticut eye care practice and its owners had agreed to pay $192,699 to resolve allegations that the practice improperly...more
The Seventh Circuit recently reversed a lower court’s ruling that an amended complaint in a qui tam lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act (FCA) alleging fraudulent anesthesiology billing practices failed to meet the...more