In 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolved several noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) cases against hospitals and health systems. In particular, DOJ obtained a number of large recoveries in cases where Stark Law and federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) violations served as a predicate for FCA claims. Moreover, DOJ sued a major nonprofit health system for alleged systemic Stark Law and FCA violations involving excessive physician compensation (see our prior post here). DOJ also obtained significant settlements involving FCA allegations involving false or fraudulent health care billing and coding practices, a long-standing focus of DOJ and an ongoing compliance challenge for hospitals.
For many years, some of DOJ’s largest FCA recoveries have involved cases against hospitals and health systems, including nonprofits, investor-owned entities, and teaching, specialty, and community-based facilities. We anticipate that the trends identified above — triggered by ever-active qui tam whistleblowers, DOJ, and other agency-initiated cases, and more incentives for disclosures by providers — will continue in 2025, even under new DOJ leadership.
Continuing the trend we noted in 2023 (see our prior post here), purported Stark Law and AKS violations by hospitals and health systems represent some of 2024’s most significant FCA settlements. As described below, these cases often involve the alleged improper provision of something of...
Business Tourism The hotel agreed to take measures against discriminatory behavior to settle a federal complaint UPDATED: January 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM EST The hotel agreed to take measures against d...