ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Alleged Violations of Stark Law and False Claims Act
$3.3 Million Settlement
Whistleblower Will Receive Share Of Settlement
Kickbacks to physicians for patient referrals are illegal, whether the referral is to a clinic, hospital, lab, nursing home, hospice program or any other health care provider. When the patients are covered by Medicare or other government payment programs, these kickbacks also constitute fraud against the government. These kind of kickback schemes violate three primary federal statutes: the Anti-Kickback Statute (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b), the Stark Law (42 U.S.C. § 1395nn), and the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq.). The whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent individuals with credible information of healthcare fraud under the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law and similar statutes. If you have credible information for a whistleblower or qui tam case, call us. today at (415) 441-8669 or toll free at (888)50-EVANS(503-8267).
Stark Law Case Settlement
In a recent example of settlement of Stark Law whistleblower allegations,[1] U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo recently announced that a health system company has agreed to pay $3,293,122.66 to resolve allegations arising under the False Claims Act that it knowingly submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to the Medicare program that were the result of violations of the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law.
Generally, the Stark Law prohibits healthcare entities, such as hospitals, from obtaining reimbursement from Medicare for certain health services when those services were referred by a physician who have a financial relationship the healthcare entity. In this case, the Government alleges that the defendant healthcare system and its affiliated hospitals had financial relationships with non-employee physicians. These non-employee physicians then referred health services, such as laboratory testing, hospital services, or medical supplies, to defendant and its affiliated hospitals. Defendant and its affiliated hospital then billed Medicare for the referred services. Although the Stark Law contains exceptions, here the government believes the compensation arrangements, failed to meet any of the exceptions because they were not commercially reasonable, or the compensation received by the physicians exceeded fair market value for the administrative services they provided.
“The Stark Law is designed to protect Medicare by ensuring that physician referrals are not influenced by financial interest,” stated U.S. Attorney DiGiacomo. “This office is committed to holding health care providers accountable who engage in such conduct.”
Whistleblower Case Procedures And Rewards
Any False Claims Act whistleblower case begins by a relator filing a complaint under seal in the federal court usually for the United States District Court for the district where defendant is located or does business. At the same time, the relator submits a disclosure to the DOJ outlining the material evidence the relator has of the alleged false claims. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b). The seal period of the complaint lasts 60 days during which the DOJ investigates the claims. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(2). (If necessary, the government can, and often does, extend the 60-day period during which the allegations are kept under seal.) If the government decides to intervene in the case, the government essentially takes over the litigation. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(1). If the government declines to intervene, the relator may proceed with the litigation on his or her own. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(3). The whistleblower in the case discussed above with receive a share of the $3.3 million settlement.
Contact Us
Ingrid M. Evans and the other whistleblower litigators at Evans Law Firm handle cases involving violations of the Stark Law, other false claims or kickback schemes involving government contracts, or cases under the Internal Revenue Code for prosecution of tax avoidance schemes including offshore tax avoidance schemes. Contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669, toll free at (888)50-EVANS(503-8267) or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our lawyers also handle cases under the federal or California False Claims Acts, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), the Bank Secrecy Act, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Office, the FINRA Whistleblower Office or other government agency whistleblower programs.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
