The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs is in discussions with Apple to provide portable electronic health records (“EHRs”) to military veterans. The plan reportedly calls for Apple to develop specialized software tools that would allow veterans and their families to access their EHRs through Apple’s Health Records EHR data viewer....
The opioid epidemic has exacted an immeasurable cost on our country in both human and financial costs. It has also given rise to a new type of health care scam in America – addiction treatment fraud. Unscrupulous operators of drug treatment centers and sober homes are preying on people in desperate need of drug treatment...
In the past four years, pharmaceutical companies have more than doubled their healthcare ad spending, making it the second-fastest growing ad category in the nation. Other healthcare providers, from local hospitals to nationally known cancer treatment centers, are also increasing their advertising. But when do healthcare promotions cross ethical boundaries and the ancient pledge to...
Contributing to the Opioid Epidemic The United States Department of Justice and numerous state governments have intervened in numerous qui tam whistleblower suits, including one brought by Philadelphia based law firm Young Law Group against INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. [1]. The suit alleges, among other things, that INSYS engaged in a nationwide illegal scheme to increase...
Record Fine Against Deutsche Bank The CFTC announced enforcement actions against three banks and six individuals for spoofing at the end of January. The three banks, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and HSBC, were charged with spoofing in precious metals futures contracts trading on the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX). The fine against Deutsche Bank was the largest...
Bipartisan Budget Act to Help End 2nd Federal Government Shutdown The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, passed overnight and signed this morning by President Trump to end the second federal government shutdown of this year, includes two key provisions for whistleblowers previously introduced by Senator Charles Grassley but removed from the January budget deal. For...
A Big Year for the False Claims Act The Department of Justice recovered more then $3.7 billion in settlements and judgments in Fiscal Year 2017 from the False Claims Act according to the press release issued last week. The majority of the funds recovered were in lawsuits initiated by whistleblowers. Qui tam lawsuits led to...
Definition of Collected Proceeds Dropped The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the reconciliation of the tax legislation has dropped the definition of collected proceeds for the IRS whistleblower program introduced into the Senate version that passed. The amendment was added by Senator Chuck Grassley, an advocate for whistleblowers and responsible for introducing the legislative...
Mortgage Fraud Continues We are reaching the end of a decade since mortgage fraud hit its peak in 2007. However, the latest settlement by IberiaBank suggests that at least one lender continued aspects of mortgage fraud against the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) well after becoming informed of their wrongdoing. IberiaBank agreed to pay the United...
SEC Recovers Over $1 Billion Over the past week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued total rewards of over $20 million to three SEC whistleblowers. As a result, SEC enforcement actions involving whistleblowers have now recovered more than $1 billion in financial remedies against whistleblowers. The SEC whistleblower program has been accepting tips...