[01/29/25]
Posted on January 29, 2025 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently settled part of a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act for alleged violations of the Medicare “14-Day Rule” for $388,667. From March 2012 to November 2023, a laboratory and health system allegedly delayed submitting physician orders for certain laboratory testing until 14 days after patients’ hospital... READ MORE
Tags: cms, DOJ, False Claims Act, Medicare 14-Day Rule
[04/29/24]
Posted on April 29, 2024 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On April 15, 2024, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a new pilot program to incentivize individuals to come forward with voluntary disclosures (the “Program”). Under this Program, individuals with criminal exposure who come forward and report misconduct that was otherwise unknown to the DOJ may be eligible to receive... READ MORE
Tags: Department of Justice, DOJ, Non-Prosecution Agreement, self-disclosure, Voluntary Disclosures
[02/23/24]
Posted on February 23, 2024 in False Claims Act Defense, Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On February 22, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it recovered over $2.68 billion in False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements and judgments during the 2023 federal fiscal year. Notably, this amount stems from the highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year, including 543 settlements and judgments during this last... READ MORE
Tags: Department of Justice, DOJ, False Claims Act, FCA, Whistleblowers
[12/27/23]
Posted on December 27, 2023 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (together, the “Agencies”) released their finalized Merger Guidelines (the “Final Guidelines”). The Final Guidelines contain updates to the draft merger guidelines (the “Proposed Guidelines”) that the Agencies released in July 2023. The Final Guidelines are a significant... READ MORE
Tags: Department of Justice, DOJ, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Merger Guidelines
[07/20/23]
Posted on July 20, 2023 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (together, the “Agencies”) released the long-awaited redraft of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines (the “Proposed Merger Guidelines”). The Agencies originally announced their intention to revise their merger guidelines in January 2022. The Proposed Merger Guidelines are... READ MORE
Tags: DOJ, FTC, Horizontal Merger Guidelines, Proposed Merger Guidelines
[03/07/23]
Posted on March 7, 2023 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
In an effort to not only establish a uniform standard for how U.S. Attorney Offices (“USAOs”) assess and credit voluntary self-disclosures but to also incentivize early and voluntary self-disclosure of corporate criminal misconduct, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has implemented a new Voluntary Self-Disclosure (“VSD”) Policy to be used by USAOs nationwide (the “Policy”).... READ MORE
Tags: DOJ, self-disclosure, USAO, Voluntary
[02/27/23]
Posted on February 27, 2023 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On February 7, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it recovered over $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (“FCA”) related settlements and judgments in the federal fiscal year 2022. While this is less than half of the previous year’s recovery of $5.6 billion, the number of cases settled was the second highest... READ MORE
Tags: DOJ, FCA, fraud, kickbacks, Medicare
[09/15/22]
Posted on September 15, 2022 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On September 2, 2022, the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) published a study assessing potential Medicare program integrity risks related to the proliferation of telehealth services during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. OIG identified 1,714 providers with billing practices deemed “high risk” to the Medicare program. These providers billed approximately 500,000... READ MORE
Tags: DOJ, oig, telehealth fraud, telemedicine
[07/28/20]
Posted on July 28, 2020 in Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
Mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry present unique challenges that are not often present when undertaking similar transactions in other industries. Because of health care’s highly regulated nature, parties may falter if a health care transaction is not reviewed and negotiated carefully with respect to the distinct concerns that health care presents. ... READ MORE
Tags: Antitrust, Competitive Behavior, Department of Justice, DOJ, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Hart-Scott Rodino Act, Health Care M&A Series, Mergers and Acquisitions
[07/01/20]
Posted on July 1, 2020 in False Claims Act Defense, Health Law News
Published by: Hall Render
On June 19, 2020, the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) announced its Final Rule[1] increasing the penalties assessable under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The DOJ raised the minimum penalty for a single false claim from $11,181 to $11,665; the maximum penalty from $22,363 to $23,331. Under the False Claims Act,[2] any person who... READ MORE
Tags: DOJ, False Claims Act, FCA, penalties