Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is aggressively pursuing False Claims Act cases in the healthcare industry. Nearly every week, at least one settlement is announced by the DOJ related to FCA fraud. Below are some recent enforcement actions.
Respironics Settlement
On September 1, 2022, Philips RS North America, LLC, f/k/a Respironics, Inc., agreed to pay more than $24 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that it misled federal health care programs by paying kickbacks to durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers. According to the DOJ, Respironics led DME suppliers to submit claims for equipment such as ventilators, oxygen concentrators, CPAP and BiPAP machines by providing physician prescribing data (for free).
Then, three weeks later on September 22, 2022, Respironics and DOJ announced a second settlement of $1.2 million over allegations that the company unlawfully induced referrals for its equipment.
Bayer Corporation Settlement
In early September 2022, Bayer Corporation also agreed to a settlement with the DOJ. The Bayer settlement was for $40 million and settles claims over its alleged use of kickbacks and false claims related to three of its prescription drugs: Avelox, Trasylol, and Baycol.
Bayer allegedly paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to use Avelox and Trasylol and marketed the drugs for off-label uses that were either unreasonable or unnecessary. Bayer’s kickbacks and off-label marketing allegedly resulted...
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