ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Illegal Physician Referral Kickbacks
Violations of Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law and False Claims Act
Former Hospital Official Blows Whistle on Violations
Hospital kickbacks to physicians for patient referrals are illegal, and when the patients are covered by Medicare or other government payment programs, these kickbacks constitute fraud against the government. These kind of kickback schemes violate three primary federal statutes: the Anti-Kickback Statute (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b), the Stark Law (42 U.S.C. § 1395nn), and the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq.). The whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent individuals with credible information of healthcare fraud under the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law and similar statutes. If you have credible information for a whistleblower or qui tam case, call us. today at (415) 441-8669 or toll free at (888)50-EVANS(503-8267).
Stark Law Case Example
In a recent settlement of a large Stark Law whistleblower case,[1] a large regional hospital agreed to pay $50 million to settle allegations of an unlawful physician kickback scheme that took advantage of vulnerable patients. According to the whistleblower complaint, the hospital had a policy of paying compensation to physicians that were “above fair market value” and/or “based on the volume or value of the physicians’ referrals.” The hospital, according to the allegations in the complaint, “systematically violated the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute by knowingly and willfully paying improper compensation to referring physicians….” The Stark Law prohibits healthcare providers from billing Medicare for certain services when the referring physician has a financial relationship with the provider. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits providers from offering or paying compensation to induce referrals covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally funded programs.
Building a Whistleblower Case
The whistleblower in the reported case was a former Executive Vice President of the Hospital. He stands to receive 15-30% of the $50 million settlement. His whistleblower complaint was built on the evidence he had of the hospital’s conduct in paying the kickbacks to referring physicians and in getting government reimbursement under Medicare for services provided to the referred patients. The case covered 13 years of misconduct by the hospital – 2007 through 2020. Our whistleblower/qui tam attorneys know the kind of evidence the government looks for in Stark Law cases and know how best to structure, organize, and present your evidence and draft the qui tam complaint that commences your action.
Contact Us
Ingrid M. Evans and the other whistleblower litigators at Evans Law Firm handle cases involving violations of the Stark Law, other false claims or kickback schemes involving government contracts, or cases under the Internal Revenue Code for prosecution of tax avoidance schemes including offshore tax avoidance schemes. Contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669, toll free at (888)50-EVANS(503-8267) or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our lawyers also handle cases under the federal or California False Claims Acts, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), the Bank Secrecy Act, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Office, the FINRA Whistleblower Office or other government agency whistleblower programs.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
