One of the DOJ's principal roles is to defend the federal laws in court cases challenging their constitutionality. But the agency has made it known that it will not be doing that in a lawsuit brought … [Read more...]
HEALTH CARE REFORM
ACA: DOJ Won’t Defend Individual Mandate in Court—But 16+ States Will
June 18, 2018
ENFORCEMENT
Case of the Month: $33.2 Million Alere Settlement Sends Warning Shot Across Bow of LDT & DX Device Makers
April 23, 2018
One of the reasons Abbott Laboratories got cold feet about consummating the $5.3 billion Alere acquisition was concern over the legal proceedings against the target firm. Now one of those cases … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE
Physician Referrals: New Rules Offer Some Stark Law Relief but Not Nearly Enough
April 11, 2018
Like most budget bills, the new federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 includes a number of changes to Medicare fraud and enforcement requirements. One set of changes affects the current physician … [Read more...]
FOCUS ON
New Laws: Very Quietly, Congress Doubles Penalties for Medicare Fraud & Abuse
April 10, 2018
Sneaky may be too strong a word. But what is fair to say is that the new hikes in federal health care fraud violation penalties have flown totally under the radar despite their obvious and immediate … [Read more...]
FOCUS ON
DOJ to Prosecutors: Show Tough Love to Whistleblowers with Weak Cases
March 19, 2018
A newly leaked internal Justice Department memo signals a new prosecution policy that may make it harder for whistleblowers to bring qui tam whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act (FCA). … [Read more...]
ENFORCEMENT TRENDS
New Fraud Takedown Shows that Coordinated Enforcement Remains Alive & Well under Trump
July 31, 2017
Last year at this time, the Justice Department announced the results of a nationwide takedown involving "the most defendants charged and largest alleged loss amount in Medicare Strike Force … [Read more...]
DOJ
Medical Necessity Requirement Bites Anatomic Pathologists
June 6, 2017
By Robert Mazer bio The DOJ has announced two separate settlements involving claims for allegedly unnecessary special stains. Medicare permits a pathologist to order special stains when … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE
OIG and DOJ Provide Tips for Determining Effectiveness of Compliance Programs
March 31, 2017
Labs have two new compliance tools—from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG)—focused on evaluating the effectiveness of compliance programs. The DOJ's resource … [Read more...]
ENFORCEMENT
Health Care Fraud and Abuse Program Faces Declining ROI
February 7, 2017
The federal government's return on investment (ROI) in the fight against health care fraud continues a steady decline according to the latest numbers reported for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse … [Read more...]
FALSE CLAIMS
DOJ Surveys False Claims Victories for 2016
January 3, 2017
As we closed out the calendar year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reflected on its successes for the fiscal year 2016 (FY 2016) which ended Sept. 30, 2016. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney … [Read more...]
