Federal officials collected more than $1.7 billion in settlements for healthcare fraud during the latest federal fiscal year that ended in September, with Medicaid fraud a leading factor.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that it collected $2.2 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments for the federal fiscal year 2022 that ended Sept. 30. This is the second-highest number of settlements and judgments collected by the government in a single year, the DOJ said.

“The large number of settlements and judgments this past year demonstrates that the False Claims Act remains one of the most important tools for ensuring that public funds are spent properly and advance the public interest,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton in a statement.

The DOJ noted that healthcare collections made up most of the False Claims Act settlements and judgments. The $1.7 billion in collections range from fraud in Medicaid, Medicare Advantage (MA) overpayments, unlawful kickbacks and substandard care.

The largest settlement came from drugmaker Biogen, which paid $843.8 million to resolve allegations that it offered kickbacks to physicians in the form of speaker training and consulting fees, meals and honoraria in connection with its multiple sclerosis products Avonex, Tysabri and Tecfidera.

Another major settlement involved Mallinckrodt, a pharmaceutical company, for $260 million to resolve allegations that the company knowingly underpaid...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZpZXJjZWhlYWx0aGNh...