On February 1, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued its annual release touting its latest accomplishments in the False Claims Act field, advertising another multibillion-dollar year in recoveries; $5.6 billion makes 2021 DOJ’s highest recovery year since 2014 and, as usual, most of the monies (over $5 billion) were collected from the health care industry. Removing the $2.8 billion opioid settlement from the Purdue Pharma case brings 2021 more in line with the recoveries for the past few years, albeit still health care focused. Looking forward to 2022, the health care industry can expect the following False Claims Act (FCA) trends.
First, DOJ’s attorneys are more committed than ever to bring the strongest cases themselves (instead of relying on relators). The 2021 statistics demonstrate that DOJ’s attorneys initiated 203 new matters in 2021, as compared to relators filing 598 qui tam actions. Approximately 25% of new FCA matters are being staffed by DOJ. DOJ recoveries in 2021 also resulted in a proportionally higher recovery rate than matters handled by relators. DOJ long has said it is using data analytics and other sources of information to identify new cases. That effort is accelerating as DOJ works with other agencies to mine Medicare and Medicaid claims data, as well as Open Payments data, to develop leads. The last few years also have trended toward DOJ using these sources to determine what the biggest cases are likely to be and also keeping these for...
Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the Israeli occupation army’s baseless accusations, which seek to justify its crimes against Al Jazeera journalists and cameramen in Gaza, most recently the killi...