-ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER-
Inflating the price of services and equipment to Medicare or overbilling is an unfortunate reality facing the government. This activity results from a variety of sources including for-profit nursing homes, which comprises of a large percentage of such illegal activity. This practice has produced approximately $1.5 billion in fraudulent charges towards the Medicare program. Overbilling can include charging Medicare for services never rendered, seeking money for superfluous treatments, and purposefully overbilling Medicare for services or medical tools needed for the nursing home.
Individuals who worked for a for-profit nursing homes can file lawsuits under the federal False Claims Act and collect a percentage of the total amount recuperated by the federal government. This act allows individuals to unmask fraudulent activities performed by a company and the individual is commonly referred to as a whistleblower. There is a condition in the act, Qui Tam that allows whistleblowers to be awarded a share of the total losses retrieved by the government. Due to the lack of resources provided to the government and their shortage of funding, individuals in the public are the best source of exposing overbilling cases. There is an immense amount of claims made to Medicare annually, not all of which the government can inspect to check for their legitimacy. Therefore, whistleblowers who reveal such information are rewarded and given monetary benefits for their assistance in these claims. Within the last four years over 100 overbilling cases involving for-profit nursing homes were investigated by the government.
In order to qualify as a whistleblower you must be the first to contact the federal authorities about such information. This can be complicated to identify for individuals acting on their own, which makes an expert attorney a valuable resource to move forward on your Qui Tam claim. The Evans Law Firm focuses in such whistleblowing cases regarding healthcare and can be of great assistance in obtaining compensation in your claim. Contact The Evans Law Firm, info@evanslaw.com or 415-441-8669 for legal advice.
