ATLANTA,GA
DULUTH, GA
AARP Applauds State Law to Combat Medicaid Fraud with Qui Tam Whistleblower Approach
We were pleased to see that Florida has joined New York, Georgia, Oklahoma and more than a dozen other states in creating a State False Claims Act with qui tam whistleblower provisions similar to the federal False Claims Act. As we have discussed at length on this whistleblower lawyer blog, Congress has created financial incentives for states to pass whistleblower laws with qui tam
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Durable Medical Equipment Company Received Kickbacks from Pharmacy Owners in Health Care Fraud Case
In a Medicare fraud case of interest to whistleblowers and whistleblower attorneys, a Miami a federal jury convicted a home health care operator of conspiracy to defraud and submit false claims and receive kickbacks, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and three counts of receiving kickbacks. Gisela Valladares, owner of PRN Home Health Care, Inc., faces up to 30 years in prison.
According to the Justice Department,
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Whistleblower Reveals Alleged Drug Price Schemes to Defraud Medicaid
When drug companies hide the true prices charged for prescription drugs, the pharma companies can violate laws protecting state Medicaid programs from being defrauded by “overpaying” for drugs. The experienced Medicaid fraud prosecutors of the Texas Attorney General’s Office have announced such allegations against three pharmaceutical manufacturers for tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud in Texas.
For pharmaceutical products to be eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, the law generally requires that manufacturers accurately report
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False Claims Act Case Continues Over Health Care Fraud Allegations
As other whistleblower attorneys who were former federal prosecutors know, Medicare fraud may sometimes lead not only to a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit, but also to prison time for the guilty party. A former home health care company owner now faces almost three years in prison after being convicted of defrauding Medicare of more than $1 million.
U. S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit sentenced Amjad Khan, a certified public accountant
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IRS whistleblowers and whistleblower attorneys take note: accounting firms participating in selling tax shelters were jolted by today’s announcement of the indictment of four Ernst & Young partners for tax fraud conspiracy and other federal criminal charges relating to tax shelters.
The four accountants were alleged to have marketed tax shelter transactions based on fraudulent factual scenarios, through which wealthy taxpayers could eliminate or reduce the taxes paid to the IRS, according to the government’s announcement. All four persons charged had worked in E&Y’s group
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I was excited to be invited to participate in today’s signing of the new Georgia “State False Medicaid Claims Act,” the newest state qui tam whistleblower law. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Edward Lindsey, asked this whistleblower lawyer blog author to join him and representatives of the Georgia Department of Community Health in the Governor’s Office for the signing ceremony.
Having worked with legislators on this bill, I was very happy to celebrate the law’s passage today:Participating in the signing ceremony with Governor Sonny
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I posted earlier today on this whistle blower lawyer blog about the comments of the Director of the new IRS Whistleblower Office, Stephen Whitlock, on how the IRS Whistleblower program is off to a good start, with credible claims and supporting evidence having been submitted by whistleblowers and their attorneys.
Since then, my partner commented that he believes one of our larger cases was referred to in the IRS Director’s comments about “knowledgeable insiders.” We also neglected to mention our IRS Whistleblower
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The head of the new IRS Whistleblower Office, Stephen Whitlock, reports that the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program is off to a strong start.
Today’s Wall Street Journal quotes Mr. Whitlock as saying that the claims submitted to the IRS Whistleblower Office to date appear to have credibility and have evidence to support them.
Since the new IRS Whistleblower program was authorized by Congress in December, our firm has been working with the IRS in pursuing whistleblower claims in the Midwest,
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Because health care fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs is such a huge problem, this week our whistleblower lawyer blog writers (former federal prosecutors who are now whistleblower attorneys) begin a series of posts on “Lessons from Health Care Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.”
We will discuss how whistle blowers in the medical services profession have been important resources in revealing and stopping health care fraud in hospitals, nursing homes, physicians’ practices, and the pharmaceutical or drug industry. We also discuss how the
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Just after Georgia, New York, and Oklahoma have passed new whistleblower laws similar to the federal False Claims Act to protect at least state Medicaid funds, Texas is poised to do even more.
We were pleased to see that, on May 4, Texas upgraded its already successful Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. The changes were designed to allow Texas to receive a greater share of Medicaid fraud recoveries, as we have written about previously on this whistleblowerlawyerblog. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 creates
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