News Coverage

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled last Thursday the “implied certification” theory of liability be upheld under the False Claims Act (FCA). The theory holds that all government reimbursement claims include an implicit guarantee that contractors have complied with all applicable contract provisions, laws and regulations.
The case in question was Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar. The basis of the case was that Arbour Health Services...

Dive Brief: Friendship Healthcare Services, a group of home healthcare providers based in Nashville, has paid $6.5 million to settle a whistleblower case. The case alleged that the company billed TennCare, Medicare and TRICARE for ineligible private nursing services, forged signatures on forms and failed to complete other required paperwork. A former nurse, Kay Flippo, filed the claims under the federal False Claims Act; she will receive an indisclosed amount of the settlement. Dive...

Nine Florida hospitals and one ambulance company have agreed to pay the federal government a total of $7.5 million to settle allegations that they defrauded Medicare by billing for unnecessary ambulance rides. Four of the hospitals were owned by HCA Holdings, Inc., and four were owned by Baptist Health. The other was UF Health Jacksonville. Despite the settlement, all nine hospitals denied any wrongdoing.
The settlement was reached following a four-year investigation by the US attorney's...