Smart and effective state Attorneys General have fought fraud against their citizens through encouraging greater use of the country’s major whistleblower law, the False Claims Act, and state versions of that law.

Texas AG Greg Abbott, for example, has a staff that has long distinguished itself for recovering millions of stolen taxpayer funds in health care fraud cases, under the leadership of Pat O’Connell and, more recently, Ray Winter.

Following this tradition, Indiana AG Greg Zoeller is urging employees of pharmaceutical companies and heath care entities to help stop health care fraud, and possibly share in the recovery as qui tam whistleblowers under the state and federal False Claims Acts.

While we have discussed in detail how the False Claims Act operates, AG Zoeller’s announcement gives a succinct summary. We have reprinted it below, and applaud his efforts.
(more…)

The major new “health care” law that the President signed this week, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), includes increased efforts to combat health care fraud and abuse, especially fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

It was significant that, on the very same day that this law took effect, an outstanding group of government prosecutors and investigators brought to an efficient conclusion a $12 million recovery of funds in a qui tam whistleblower case alleging health care fraud in violation of the False Claims Act. The case was brought by our firm, Finch McCranie, LLP, the Simpson Firm, LLC, and James G. Gustino, P.A..

The next day, after a meeting in Washington with the Department of Justice on another False Claims Act case, I sat in on the Senate debate of amendments to the new health care law. Whatever differing views may exist about many of the new law’s provisions, all taxpayers agree that stopping fraud in health care is an essential step to preserving scarce health care dollars.