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Whistleblower Blog

Whistleblower Laws of Two More States–Hawaii and Virginia–Are Approved by Feds

States are figuring out how to pass whistleblower laws with effective “qui tam” provisions, so that they qualify to receive more money from Medicaid fraud settlements. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that, unlike 7 of the 10 state whistleblower laws that OIG had previously reviewed, the whistleblower laws of Hawaii and Virginia pass muster under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

We have previously discussed why states are passing or improving their own
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Whistleblower Law Sponsor Testifies About Iraq Contractor Fraud

Whistleblowers and whistleblower attorneys may consider Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa as the “patron saint” of protecting taxpayer money from fraud against the government. Sen. Grassley continues his great work as he testifies today before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Iraq contractor profiteering and fraud.

The Senator already claimed another recent victory by spearheading passage of the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program. Sen. Grassley saw how cost-effective the False Claims Act has been in recovering more than $20 billion for the government–largely because of the
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New State Qui Tam Whistleblower Law Is Approved by House Judiciary Committee in Georgia

This afternoon I had the privilege of joining the Inspector General of Georgia’s Department of Community Health, Doug Colburn, in serving as the two invited witnesses who were asked to explain how the new “State False Medicaid Claims Act” would work, in testimony before the full Judiciary Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives.

The new whistleblower law was approved unanimously by the Judiciary Committee, and is gaining steam toward passage.

Chairman Wendell Willard expressed his strong support for encouraging whistleblowers to report wrongdoing. The
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IRS Whistleblower Rewards Featured in Smart Money Magazine

The new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program that we have been discussing is featured in the March 13 issue of Smart Money Magazine–and Smart Money cites our Whistleblower blog and quotes one of our authors.

The Smart Money reporter, Lisa Scherzer, contacted our firm, Finch McCranie, LLP, to discuss the IRS Whistleblower Rewards program and our experiences in representing clients in the IRS Whistleblower program. We commented that most potential whistleblowers who have contacted us are ethical, conscientious persons who are troubled
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New “Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act” Passes U.S. House

We were excited to see that the U.S. House of Representatives today passed an important new whistleblower protection law, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.

We have discussed this new whistleblower bill previously, as an encouraging development for whistleblowers and whistleblower lawyers. The new whistleblower law would protect federal employees and, now, also federal contractors, who report evidence of fraud, waste, abuse, gross mismanagement, or “substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.”

Rep. Henry Waxman sponsored the new whistleblower protection bill, but Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa also spoke eloquently today about why American taxpayers–and the American public’s security–demand that honest citizens must be able to bring to light evidence of fraud, waste, and abuse that affects government dollars (which are taxpayer dollars).

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New State False Medicaid Claims Act (with Qui Tam Whistleblower Provisions) Is Approved by Georgia Legislative Subcommittee

Whistleblowerlawyerblog Author Testifies In Support of Georgia Department of Community Health’s “State False Medicaid Claims Act”

This morning, a new state False Claims Act cleared a hurdle as it was approved by a Georgia legislative subcommittee.

Georgia’s new “State False Medicaid Claims Act,” which has qui tam whistleblower provisions similar to the federal False Claims Act, received unanimous support among members of the subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Edward Lindsey of Atlanta.

Testifying in support of the new
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News in Government Procurement Fraud and False Claims

We found a very interesting article from last week’s Legal Times, with an excerpt of interest to whistleblower lawyers as follows:

“Last fall, the Justice Department launched a National Procurement Fraud Task Force to focus “resources at all levels of government to increase criminal enforcement” in areas of procurement fraud. The stepped-up attention to this area throughout the government may signal that the $3.1 billion record in federal fraud recoveries in 2006 could soon be broken. More than 50 inspectors general from across all
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IRS Names New Head of IRS Criminal Investigative Division

The IRS agents we have been meeting with since January to pursue whistleblower claims under the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program have a new boss, the IRS announced today.

The Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS will be led by Eileen Mayer, who was most recently head of the IRS’s Office of Fraud/Bank Secrecy Act.

We are encouraged by IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson’s comments that “she will play a key role in IRS efforts to halt tax fraud.” Agents of the Criminal Investigative Division work tax fraud cases, some of which are now originating under the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards program.

As a result of the IRS’s efforts, the Department of Justice has brought many successful prosecutions.
The IRS’s press release is reprinted below:
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New Medicaid False Claims Act Proposed in Georgia

We were encouraged to see that Georgia has just joined the states that are considering a State “False Claims Act” with whistleblower provisions.

As we have discussed before on the Whistleblower Lawyer Blog, Congress has created great financial incentives for states that pass their own versions of the federal False Claims Act, with qui tam provisions that encourage whistleblowers. States can increase by 10% their share of Medicare fraud recoveries by passing their own False Claims Acts, but the state laws must pass muster with OIG and be at least as effective as the federal False Claims Act. Otherwise, as approximately seven other states were disappointed to find, the state does not receive an increase in its share of Medicare fraud recoveries.

Rep. Ed Lindsey is the sponsor of Georgia’s proposed “State False Medicaid Claims Act.” The new law would apply to Medicaid fraud and false claims, but not other fraud and false claims that cost the state taxpayers money.

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Has Iraq Fraud Cost Taxpayers Even More Than Previously Believed?

Congressional Committee Explores Contractor Overcharges

Of great interest to whistleblower lawyers is how much suspected fraud and abuse has occurred in Iraq reconstruction contracts. Goverment auditors recently announced that they now believe that Iraq contractor fraud and abuse may be three times greater than the previous estimates–and may affect one out of every six dollars spent in the Iraq reconstruction effort.

The estimate has grown from $3.5 billion to more than $10 billion in “questioned and unsupported costs,” according to the Defense Contract Audit
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Oklahoma Joins Nationwide Movement of States That Are Passing False Claims Acts with Qui Tam Whistlblower Provisions

We are pleased to see yet another state–Oklahoma–realize how effective qui tam whistleblower laws are by passing a state False Claims Act this week.

The Oklahoma legislature has passed the Oklahoma Medicaid False Claims Act (SB 889). The bill’s primary author was Cox Crain.

The new whistleblower law appears to be modelled on the federal False Claims Act. As we have written about often on this whistleblower lawyer blog, states that pass such laws with qui tam whistleblower provisions that are at least as effective
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“Heathcare Auditing Strategies” Quotes Whistleblowerlawyerblog Author on State Whistleblower Statutes

To understand why states are passing their own “False Claims Acts” with qui tam whistleblower provisions, the heath care compliance newsletter Heathcare Auditing Strategies called on one of the authors of this whistleblower lawyer blog, Michael A. Sullivan.

The May 2007 edition of this heath care compliance publication discusses the results of our efforts in this blog to explain these new state statutes, and to report on how these state statutes have fared when reviewed by the Office of Inspector General of HHS.
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Whistleblower Lawsuit Against California Hospital Accused of Overbilling is Settled

In a whistleblower lawsuit settlement, the Loma Linda Behavioral Science Center agreed to pay more than $2 million to resolve allegations of overbilling.

This False Claims Act whistleblower case was filed by a former employee of Healthcare Financial Advisors (HFA), a consulting firm that advises hospitals in preparing cost reports. The lawsuit alleges that HFA assisted its clients in seeking reimbursement for unallowable costs from Medicare and Medi-Cal.

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Justice Department Announces It Joins Qui Tam Health Care Fraud Cases Against HealthEssentials Solutions Inc.

Health care cases remain busy this week. The Justice Department on April 26 announced that it is joining whistleblowers in pursuing three qui tam lawsuits against HealthEssentials Solutions Inc. (HES) that allege false claims were submitted to Medicare.

The cases involve allegations of upcoding — improperly using a diagnosis code that is not supported by the medical record, for the purpose of obtaining greater reimbursement–and billing for medically unnecessary services.

The three cases were filed separately in the U.S. District Court in Louisville, Ky., by
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Another State Qui Tam Whistleblower Law is Born–Georgia Bill Passes Senate and Goes to Governor for Signature

Another state whistleblower law, with qui tam provisions that follow the federal False Claims Act, was born today. The Georgia Senate passed the “State False Medicaid Claims Act” today, and it goes to Governor Sonny Perdue for his signature.

We have been writing about this and other new state whistleblower statutes. Representative Edward Lindsey deserves credit for his sponsorship of the bill.

Our firm was fortunate enough to have been part of the legislative effort. Rep. Lindsey asked Michael A. Sullivan (one of this whistleblowerlawyerblog co-authors) to testify and explain the whistleblower law three times, before the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee. There were no dissenting votes in any of the committee votes.

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New Qui Tam Whistleblower Law Clears Senate Committee in Georgia

A new qui tam whistleblower law has cleared another hurdle toward passage. Georgia’s Senate Insurance and Labor Committee unanimously approved the new “State False Medicaid Claims Act” this afternoon. As we have written about previously on this whistleblower lawyer blog, the new whistleblower law has already passed the Georgia House.

After an introduction by Senator Seth Harp, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Edward Lindsey, asked Inspector General Doug Colburn of the Department of Community Health and attorney Michael A. Sullivan (co-author of this
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Amendments to New IRS Whistleblower Law Considered

We have had many calls this week from potential clients in our IRS Whistleblower practice, probably because msn.com featured an article about the IRS Whistleblower program on Monday that linked to our whistleblower lawyer blog.

As I have explained to many whistleblower clients, the new regulations for the IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program are in the works, but have not been issued. We have been pursuing IRS Whistleblower claims under the new program and have found the IRS agents to be excited about it.

Adding to the mix for those seeking a whistleblower attorney is that Congress is considering amendments to the law that established the new IRS Whistleblower Program in December 2006. Among the possible changes/additions are a provision opening up the Whistleblower Program to more claims by setting a different threshold for the amount of money in question, which could allow more whistleblowers to qualify for a reward.

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Guilty Plea in Pharmaceutical Fraud Case

A subsidiary of the drug manufacturer Pfizer has agreed to plead guilty in a kickback scheme and to pay a criminal fine of $19.68 million, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Sullivan (not to be confused with Michael A. Sullivan, one of the authors of this whistleblower lawyer blog).

The government’s announcement was that Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc., was charged with offering a kickback in connection with the administration and distribution
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New York Becomes Latest State to Agree to Enact a State False Claims Act

The New York legislature has become the latest state to agree to the enactment of a State False Claims Act, when it approved passage of such a whistleblower law as part of approving the state budget. The Buffalo Times reported on this encouraging development.

We have written before about why states are passing their own whistleblower laws to protect taxpayer money. Congress has created significant financial incentives for states that pass their own state false claims acts, with whistleblower provisions that are at
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New Medicaid Whistleblower Law Passes House in Georgia

We have been writing about why states are passing their own whistleblower laws, with qui tam provisions that are at least as effective as the federal False Claims Act. Georgia’s legislature took a giant step forward when its House of Representatives today passed the State False Medicaid Claims Act–by an overwhelming margin of 164-2!

As we have mentioned before on this whistleblower lawyer blog, when the House Judiciary Committee met to discuss and approve the new whistleblower statute, two witnesses were invited
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