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False Claims Act
Update & Alert |
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Taxpayers
Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. |
WWW.TAF.ORG
November 2, 2009 |
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 Astra
Zeneca Reserves $520 Million for Seroquel Settlement
Astra Zeneca has reserved $520 million in expectation of
settling two False Claims Act lawsuits over the off-label
marketing of Seroquel, an atypical anti-psychotic medication.
>>
To read more
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 Fifteen
States Join Amgen FCA
No longer content to always let Uncle Sam
lead in the war against fraud, 15 state Attorneys General have come out
swinging, joining a massive False Claims Act lawsuit against Amgen,
charging the company with a systematic program of kickbacks designed to
increase Medicaid costs through the illegal promotion of anti-anemia
drug Aranesp. >>
To read more |
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 Enforcement Resources Needed
The latest Health Care Fraud
and Abuse Control (HCFAC) report notes that in FY 2008, the
DoJ opened 843
new civil health care fraud investigations and had 1,311 civil
health care fraud matters pending. The report also
notes that
in FY 2008 the HCFAC budget was $255 million. Of this
total, $121 million went to the
FBI, $80 million went
to HHS, $30.4 million went to the 94 U.S. Attorneys,
$15.5 million went to the Civil Division, and $3.08 million went
to the Criminal Division.
>>
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 Texas
Hospitals to Pay $27 Million
South Texas Health Systems has agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle
claims it paid kickbacks to doctors who referred patients to hospitals
within the group. Whistleblower
Bruce Moilan will receive $5.5 million for
his help in prosecuting the case.
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To read more |
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 Senators Introduce
Anti-Fraud Bill
Senators
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senators
Arlen Specter (D-PA), Ted Kaufman (D-DE),
Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), have
introduced the
Health Care Fraud Enforcement Act of
2009 which would increase sentencing guidelines for health care fraud,
clarify that health care crimes are considered fraud no matter where
they are codified in the law, clarify that health care kickbacks are
false
claims under the False Claims Act, and restore the original intent as to
scienter, while increasing antifraud enforcement funding by $20 million
per year
through 2016. >>
To read more |
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 Stryker Biotech Indicted Over Product Promotion
A federal grand jury has
indicted
Stryker Biotech in a case involving two devices made for
spinal and long bone surgeries which were promoted for applications
that were not approved by the FDA.
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To read more
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 Energy
Saving Fraud?
Honeywell International proposed to change the U.S.
Army's decades-old steam power plant and thereby save the Government
energy and money. Instead, Honeywell installed a system that
consumes more energy than the old system, leaving the Army with as much
as a $100 million loss over the 25-year life of the project. A
False Claims Act case has been filed.
>>
To read more |
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 Apollo
Reserves $80.5 Million
The University of
Phoenix (Apollo Systems) has taken a pre-tax charge of $80.5 million
in expectation
of settling an FCA case dealing with
illegal incentive recruitment.
In FY
the University of
Phoenix derived 86 percent of $3.77 billion in revenue from federal
grants and loans, up from 48 percent in 2001.
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