U.S. Medicare coverage of telehealth and telemedicine sometimes seems to lag inappropriately, but fears of fraud were borne out in a conviction obtained recently by the Department of Justice.
Diopsys Inc. agreed to pay $14.25 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) in encouraging the unnecessary use of the company’s Nova device for retinal testing.
U.S. law allows whistleblowers to file suit for violations the False Claims Act, but the legality of these qui tam relators under the Appointments Clause is under intense scrutiny thanks to a case heard in Florida district court.
False Claims Act litigation in the U.S. spiked significantly according to a new report by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, at least in terms of the number of cases brought to the courts. However, the report added that the total dollar value of these cases is in line with historical norms, suggesting that the average recovery amount has tapered off significantly.
False Claims Act litigation in the U.S. spiked significantly according to a new report by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, at least in terms of the number of cases brought to the courts.
In another cautionary tale of kicking all the tires before an acquisition, Pfizer Inc. agreed to a nearly $60 million settlement to resolve a whistleblower’s claims that Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. was paying kickbacks to induce prescriptions of its migraine drug ahead of Pfizer’s $11.6 billion acquisition of the company in October 2022.
Murray Hill, N.J.-based C.R. Bard Inc. agreed to pay roughly $17 million to settle allegations that it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute in connection with the use of a self-referral form for sales of the company’s intermittent catheter.
The U.S. Department of Justice reported that THD America Inc., and its Italian corporate parent company agreed to pay $700,000 over inducing physicians to use incorrect payment codes in Medicare and Medicaid claims.
Privacy legislation was passed and implemented in the European Union, but the picture in the U.S. is pockmarked by state legislation, a scenario that raises concerns about a fractured and impracticable compliance regime.
