Healthcare Fraud Lawyer Blog
In Fiscal Year 2015, the government, often with the assistance of private whistleblowers, recovered more than $3.5 billion using the False Claims Act to target companies and individuals who attempted to commit fraud and steal money from federal government programs. We took a broad look at these recoveries a couple of weeks back, today we take a narrower focus: health care fraud. We believe that looking at these cases can help people understand what sort of actions violate the FCA and encourage them to contact our whistleblowers’ law firm. As the 2015 numbers show, the FCA works and individuals can play a major role in the fight against fraud targeting Medicare, Medicaid, and other vital government health care programs.
$1.9 Billion Recovered in Health Care Fraud False Claims Act Cases in 2015
According to the Department of Justice’s press release announcing the successes under the FCA in FY2015, $1.9 billion of the $3.5 billion recovered on behalf of the federal government last year came from the health care industry. This makes the total health care fraud dollars recovered via the FCA since January 2009 nearly $16.5 billion. Importantly, these numbers are limited to federal dollars returned to federal programs. Quite often, health care fraud prosecutions include additional charges involving state programs and can include recoveries on behalf of these programs as well, especially when cases involve Medicaid which is a joint federal/state venture.
