False Claims Act

Mark Mandell, Esq.

 

The False Claims Act has recovered approximately $18.3 billion dollars for the federal government from 2008 through 2012. For every dollar the government invests in fighting healthcare fraud, the government gets $16 dollars in return.

The False Claims Act is a Civil War era law, dating back to 1865. The Act is meant to fight companies who defraud governmental programs. People that are not affiliated with the government are also allowed to file actions on behalf of the government; this is known as “whistleblowing”. Whistleblowers can receive up to 15-25% of recovered damages. 

In the past two years, there has been a tremendous increase in healthcare fraud cases. For example, in 1987-1992, there were only 62 healthcare fraud cases filed by “whistleblowers”. The number of cases in 2011 and 2012 add up to 829 cases.

Supporters of The False Claims Act explain that this revenue actually returns a large amount of money to U.S. tax payers. The report from the Washington based group, D.C.-based Taxpayers Against Fraud, states that this revenue can fund the entire Children's Health Insurance Program, serving more than 5 million people, for approximately four years.

 

Although, there are many supporters of the act, there is also some opposition. For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes that this act needs a lot of reform to encourage companies to try to fix the fraud issue internally. Penalties for healthcare fraud are actually three times the amount of the actual damages and the Chamber of Commerce explains that these penalties are handed out without any due process. The Chamber of Commerce explains that these penalties are too harsh and this makes companies less likely to come forward and ask for help in solving their issues with internal fraud. For example, the Chamber of Commerce thinks a good idea for reform would be to create benefit incentives for companies who create in house programs against fraud.

Healthcare fraud continues to be a serious problem and initiatives to fight healthcare fraud continue. For more information please read:

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/u-s-recovers-16-for-every-1-it-spends-fighting-civil-healthcare-fraud.html

http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/10/23/u-s-chamber-of-commerce-proposes-false-claims-act-reforms/

$350,000 Whistleblower Verdict Reinstated

Mark Mandell, Esq.

The Michigan Supreme Court has recently reinstated a $350,000 verdict in a whistle-blower lawsuit brought against Lake County by a former employee.

Former Lake County 911 department director Cheryl Debano-Griffin sued the county in 2005 under the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Cheryl complained about the handling of emergency funds when property tax money for ambulance services was being funneled into another county account. As a result, Cheryl lost her job.

While Cheryl originally won her case at trial in Lake County Circuit Court, the case has been sent to the state Court of Appeals twice, as well as to the Supreme Court. Most recently however, in a 4-0 opinion authored by Justice Michael Cavanagh, the court did in fact find a causal link between Cheryl’s termination and the complaints she made to the county board.

Cheryl’s objections included opposition towards the use of a Lake County EMS ambulance for the transportation of residents from other counties in non-emergency situations, as well as the county board’s authorization to transfer $50,000 from the ambulance account to a “mapping project account.” However, the board voted to return the funds to the ambulance account two days after voting to merge two county positions, which eliminated Cheryl’s job due to “budgetary problems.”

The court determined that although there may have been financial issues at the time, it did not appear that these difficulties were the board’s motivating factor when it eliminated Cheryl’s position. As a result, the original $350,000 verdict to Cheryl was reinstated.

If you have questions about criminal matters, fraud or other legal issues, please contact Mark Mandell or Tariq Hafeez at 248.380.0000 or online at www.MichiganFraudLawyer.com

To learn more and read the original article, please visit: http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/former_911_directors_350000_wh.html?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MiLW+Daily+Alert%3a+Lawyering%2c+24-7%3a+Setting+degree+of+access+by+clients+a+personal+choice&utm_content=Lake+Co.+whistleblower%e2%80%99s+%24350%2c000+verdict+reinstated+%0dby+MSC