On Thursday, April 28, 2016 Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell addressed the American Bar Association’s Institute on Internal Corporate Investigations regarding the Department of Justice’s Voluntary Disclosure Program. In a room full of defense attorneys, this pilot program was surely received with some skepticism. This new initiative is aimed to encourage corporate counsel to report potential wrongdoing… Read more »
The United States indicted twenty-five defendants in three Medicare Fraud cases, recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. William Maddalena, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Division, dubbed South Florida “ground zero” for health care scams. These indictments detail two purported schemes involving Medicare Part D,… Read more »
The first few months of 2016 have witnessed a rash of investigations, and even indictments, involving compounding pharmacies throughout the United States. Previously beset by contamination scandals, the industry now faces widespread allegations of fraud. Significant Recent Developments On January 26, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of… Read more »
The proliferation of sleep medicine specialty services in recent years has not gone unnoticed by the federal government. As sleep specialists pursue innovation in both diagnoses and therapies, the likelihood of challenges in submitting charges for those services has increased. Data published by the government illustrates the magnitude of the charges being submitted in the… Read more »
DOJ made news recently with its announcement that it would be placing special emphasis in the course of investigating and prosecuting business organizations on making individuals accountable. While most observers agree it is too early to assess the full impact of the policy shift articulated in the September 9 Yates Memo, it appears that timely… Read more »
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a new policy requiring admissions as part of settlement in certain cases. While still using “no admit, no deny” in the majority of cases, the SEC, in certain circumstances, will now require defendants to admit wrongdoing in order to settle with the agency. While some heralded… Read more »
Mental health care providers should be mindful that DOJ has maintained its vigilance in pursuing false claims cases against mental health care providers when evidence calls into question the extent of services provided or demonstrates that the claimed services were not medically necessary. The most recent example is the case of Santiago Borges, Erik Alonso,… Read more »
On Friday, the DOJ announced it had reached an agreement with an Ohio health system to settle allegations of violations of the False Claims Act for costs resulting from medically unnecessary procedures performed at one of the system’s hospitals. Under the agreement, Cincinnati-based West Chester Hospital and its parent company, UC Health, will pay $4.1… Read more »
The practice of lobbying and government relations, particularly on behalf of companies doing business with the government, has long been a focus of DOJ investigators and prosecutors. They are known to look skeptically at the purpose of “consulting fees,” particularly when those consulting fees appear to be spun into political contributions. One recent example is… Read more »
While the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of DOJ has been in existence for nearly 20 years, the emphasis on criminal enforcement of intellectual property laws has gained significant importance in more recent years. Beginning with its Task Force on Intellectual Property more than ten years ago, DOJ has continued to ramp up… Read more »