False Claims Act Update & Alert
Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. | WWW.TAF.ORG December 28, 2004
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			HealthSouth Pays $325 Million Though HealthSouth and the U.S. Dept. of Justice have not yet announced the settlement, DoJ sources say that HealthSouth has tentatively agreed to pay $325 million to settle civil fraud charges brought under the False Claims Act. The case was filed by James J. Devage, a patient at a HealthSouth facility in Texas. When Mr. Devage got a copy of his physical therapy bill, he was taken aback to see that Medicare was being billed for individual physical therapy which is not what he had received from HealthSouth. Mr. Devage called Medicare to report the irregularities, but Medicare was uninterested. Mr. Devage then filed a False Claims Act lawsuit. n To read the complaint >> Click here  n To read DoJ Complaint in Intervention >> Click here
			Judge Rejects E-Rate Settlement U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer has refused to accept a guilty plea and an $8.7 million fraud settlement involving Inter-Tel Technologies. This development occurred after the Department of Justice and the company each released a press release announcing the settlement. Judge Breyer declined to accept the settlement because of what he called the "egregious facts" surrounding the fraud.>> To read more
			King Pharma. Increases Reserve King Pharmaceuticals has added $65 million to the $65.4 million it had previously set aside to settle Medicaid underpayment charges, bringing the expected settlement in that case up to $130 million. The expected settlement deals with misreporting of prescription drug "best prices" and the underpayment payment of Medicaid rebates for the drugs Altace, Aplisol, Lorabid, Fluogen, and Levoxyl. So far, over $2.4 billion has been recovered from drug manufacturers engaged in fraud against the U.S. Government, and the DoJ has said that over 100 drug pricing cases are now under investigation.
			Tenet Heart Patient Reserve at   $395M, But More Problems Ahead Tenet Healthcare has set aside $395 million to settle lawsuits stemming from unnecessary heart surgeries performed by its recently sold Redding Medical Center. The unnecessary heart surgeries were first exposed by a False Claims Act lawsuit which Tenet settled for $54 million. Tenet's troubles may not be over. Caymus Partners analyst Jeff Villwock, notes that Tenet is generating suspicious margins at half a dozen other hospitals, and the company is currently on trial for paying illegal kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals in San Diego. >> To read more
			Kuhl Withdraws Nomination President Bush is renominating a number of judges whose appointment was held up by the last Congress, but California state judge Carolyn Kuhl will not be among them. Ms. Kuhl's nomination to the 9th Circuit was opposed by several groups, including the False Claims Act bar, which noted her open hostility to the FCA and her past work experience of defending accused fraud feasors. Ms. Kuhl asked that she not be renominated.