The U.S. Department of Justice oversaw more than $5.6 billion in settlements involving false claims in the Fiscal Year 2021. Of that amount, $5 billion is related to fraud and abuse within the healthcare industry. It’s the second largest amount in the history of the False Claims Act and the largest since 2014.

The False Claims Act deals with cases that defraud taxpayers by scamming government programs. According to the DOJ, many cases involved drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories and physicians. Many of these cases were made possible by whistleblowers in what are known as qui tam actions. Qui tam actions incentivize and protect whistleblowers for helping the government discover and prosecute fraudulent activities.

Opioid fraud

The DOJ has been using the False Claims Act to take on companies that pushed highly addictive Opioids. The department reported that Indivior Inc., Indivior PLC and Purdue Pharma were hit as part of a $600 million resolution relating to the Opioid epidemic.

Indivior paid $209.3 million to the federal government to settle allegations that it promoted its drug Suboxone to doctors who were writing prescriptions that were not for medical purposes. According to the DOJ, the company “made false and misleading claims” that its drug was less susceptible to abuse and to accidental exposure to children than other products. The company Indivior Solutions pleaded guilty to a...

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