Compliance News Roundup: Pay Careful Attention to State False Claims Act

1. Gresham Medical Practice Manager Sentenced to Prison for False Billing and Tax Fraud - PORTLAND, Ore. – On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, United States District Court Judge Robert E. Jones sentenced Anthony C. Neal to one year and one day in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Neal pleaded guilty in July 2016 to engaging in a seven-year health care fraud scheme and conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Neal was also ordered to pay $1,702,567 in restitution to Medicare, Care Oregon and several private health insurance companies and $817,378 to the IRS. For the full article: https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/gresham-medical-practice-manager-sentenced-prison-false-billing-and-tax-fraud

2. Children’s Hospital Fails Federal Surgical Inspection - Children’s Hospital of Michigan failed a late January inspection conducted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of a broad investigation into dirty surgical instruments at Detroit Medical Center hospitals. An inspections sweep of three DMC hospitals and the Karmanos Cancer Center on Jan. 30 and 31 also found Karmanos was not in compliance with federal certification requirements. The cancer center, which is on the Midtown campus, is not part of DMC, but many of its patients are operated on at DMC’s Harper University Hospital. For the full article: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/03/27/dmc-hospital/99701522/

3. Deeper Than The Headlines: Pay Special Attention to State False Claims Act - This week, we’re going to dive deep into the headlines to talk about a recent settlement in Maryland and why we need to pay special attention to each State’s individual False Claims Acts. When most of us hear “False Claims Act,” we usually think of the Federal False Claims Act (FCA). This makes sense since the various amendments to the Federal FCA since the 1980’s have transformed the FCA into one of the biggest (and most effective) tools for the Federal Government to recover funds back into the public healthcare programs. But, it’s important to remember that many states also have their own State version of a False Claims Act. For the full article: http://www.healthicity.com/blog/deeper-than-the-headlines-pay-careful-attention-state-false-claims-act