False Claims Act Update & Alert
	Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. | WWW.TAF.ORG           March 18, 2010
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		Subscribe to this FREE Newsletter Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz n TAF Home Page n Previous Newsletters n Email editor   Please take a moment to forward this FREE electronic newsletter to others that might be interested!	Alpharma to Pay $42.5 Million    Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to settle a  False Claims Act case charging the company with kickbacks in connection with the sale of morphine-based drug, Kadian.  The drug company also misrepresented the safety and efficacy of the drug.  Though a settlement has been reached, HHS has expressly reservered the right "to institute, direct, or to maintain any administrative action seeking exclusion against Alpharma and/or King, and/or their officers, directors, and employees, from Medicare, Medicaid, and all other Federal health care programs."  >> To read more
			Mass. Joins Suit Against J&J Massachusetts has joined a False Claims Act lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson that contends the company paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to get its drugs, especially the powerful antipsychotic drug Risperdal, prescribed to nursing home patients. >> To read more
			Stimulus Under Investigation The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board reports that more than 1,700 fraud complaints have been received to date, and federal inspectors general are investigating 147 of those allegations, while federal prosecutors have opened investigations into 43 cases.  >> To read more
			DoJ Needs More Resources Writing in Business Week, Michael K. Loucks, the former Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, notes: "New laws increasing penalties on health-care cheats are useless weapons if there aren’t enough soldiers to wield them. U.S. attorneys offices haven’t had an increase in funding for health-care fraud since 2003... the number of federal prosecutors spending time on health-care fraud declined nationwide from 2004 to 2007 by 20, a decrease of 12 percent." >> To read more
			Davis Bacon Triggers an FCA Circle C Construction lost on summary judgment and was ordered to pay the U.S. Government $1.6 million for failing to abide by Davis-Bacon Act requirements on a building contract at Fort Campbell, KY.  >> To read more
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