Lebau & Neuworth Present DoJ’s False Claims Cases Data For FY 2019

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it recovered more than $3 billion from False Claims Act cases in fiscal year 2019. That is about $151 million more than the DOJ recovered in FY 2018, which was $2.9 billion. Click here to see the full news release from the DOJ.

Of that recovery, new and existing whistleblower (or qui tam) cases alone contributed to more than $2.1 billion. The DOJ reported that it filed 633 new qui tam cases in FY 2019 and, during the same period, paid out a whopping $265 million to the individuals who exposed fraud and false claims by filing those actions.

Just like prior years, the large majority of the DOJ’s recovery is related to cases relating to the healthcare industry. Healthcare cases accounted for $2.6 billion – nearly 90% – of total recoveries in FY 2019. This includes cases involving drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories, and physicians. This is the tenth consecutive year that the DOJ’s healthcare industry recovery exceeded $2 billion. The recovered $2.6 billion reflects only federal losses and does not include the additional millions of dollars recovered for state Medicaid programs.

The largest healthcare settlements involved pharmaceutical companies. In one case, a drug manufacturer paid $195 million to settle civil allegations that it paid kickbacks to induce physicians and nurse practitioners to prescribe its own drug to patients. Also, seven drug manufacturers paid DOJ a combined total of over $624 million to resolve claims that they illegally paid patient co-pays of Medicare and Medicaid patients for their own drugs through purportedly independent foundations.

In another case, the nation’s large operator of inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) paid $48 million to resolve allegations that some of its facilities provided inaccurate information to Medicare to maintain status as an IRF and to earn a higher rate of reimbursement, and that some admissions to its IRFs were not medically necessary. A software company paid $21.57 million to settle allegations that it caused the government to be overcharged by providing misleading information about its sales practices that were used in General Services Administration (GSA) contract negotiations.

If you are seeking advice, assistance and representation for a False Claims Act claim, the attorneys at Lebau & Neuworth are experienced in handling all types of whistleblowing cases, so we may be able to help you. Contact Lebau & Neuworth at 888-456-2529 or lebauneuworth.com/contact-us.