Medicare and Medicaid providers lie awake at night worrying about disgruntled—or worse yet, fired—finance officers filing whistleblower suits. After all, Medicare and Medicaid regulations are notoriously complicated, and False Claims Act (FCA) liability can carry a penalty of three times the amount of each …
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL SETTLES WHISTLEBLOWER CASE FOR $7 MILLION
April 22, 2014 Leave a Comment
Yet another hospital has paid millions to settle a whistleblower suit brought by a former insider. For over a decade Barbara Schubert worked for the physician-recruiting subsidiary of All Children’s Health System. She became a whistleblower, claiming that All Children’s Hospital, also a subsidiary of the …
MOST IMAGINATIVE WHISTLEBLOWER THEORY OF THE MONTH
April 9, 2014 Leave a Comment
The votes are in, and the award for most imaginative whistleblower theory of March goes to Lisa Stratienko of Chattanooga, Tenn. Sadly for Lisa, the False Claims Act doesn’t give points for being imaginative, and the court dismissed her claim under the FCA’s public disclosure bar—the provision that bars …
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS—AND IN DAYTONA OF ALL PLACES
April 8, 2014 Leave a Comment
Last month Halifax Hospital, in Daytona, Florida, agreed to pay $85 million to settle part of a suit brought by the federal government and a whistleblower (who is an employee of the hospital) for violations of the Stark Law. The part that was settled centered on improperly providing incentives to physicians for …