The Department of Justice (DOJ) recouped more than $2.9 billion for the federal government from False Claims Act settlements and judgements during the 2024 fiscal year, with nearly $1.7 billion of the total related to healthcare.
Those tallies, announced Wednesday, included the highest-ever number of whistleblower cases in a single year—979 filings that contributed to $2.4 billion of the total and put more than $400 million into the whistleblowers’ pockets.
The top-line number outpaces fiscal 2023’s $2.7 billion, though the healthcare tally is slightly below that year’s over $1.8 billion related to healthcare. Fiscal 2021 remains the most lucrative year for False Claims settlements and judgements, with more than $5 billion.
“The False Claims Act and its whistleblower provisions remain a critical tool in protecting the public fisc and ensuring that taxpayer funds serve the purposes for which they were intended,” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement.
False Claims Act recoveries help restore funds to federal healthcare programs including Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE, the DOJ said. The $1.7 billion of healthcare recoveries only relates to federal losses, “but in many of these cases, the Department was instrumental in recovering additional amounts for state Medicaid programs,” it said.
The department’s announcement put a spotlight on settlements and recoveries related to companies and individuals who it said contributed to the country...
California-based Unified Care Services and its owner, Emmanual David, agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly providing false informat...