A Pittsburgh-based medical device manufacturer, Philips RS North America (formerly Respironics Inc.), will pay over $24 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks that impacted federal healthcare programs. The case was brought on by a qui tam, or whistleblower, lawsuit filed by Jeremy Orling, an employee of Respironics. For his role in the case, Orling will receive a $4.3 million award.
According to the settlement agreement, Orling filed a qui tam action on October 29, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act enable private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual or company defrauding the government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery, if one occurs. In this case, the U.S. government intervened in the whistleblower’s case and conducted the investigation.
In his complaint, Orling alleged that “Respironics knowingly caused the submission of false claims to the United States by providing improper financial remuneration in the form of free physician prescribing data to certain durable medical equipment (“DME”) suppliers to induce them to recommend and provide Respironics’ respiration-related medical equipment to beneficiaries of Federal healthcare programs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.”
The U.S. government alleged that the DME company caused claims to be submitted to Medicare,...
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