Healthicity Blog

1. Rio Grande Valley Area Doctor Charged in Illegal Kickback Scheme - McALLEN, Texas ‐ A Rio Grande Valley area doctor has been taken into custody for his scheme to solicit and obtain illegal kickbacks in exchange for Medicare patient referrals, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

A couple weeks ago, Medstar Ambulance Inc. settled False Claims Act allegations with the government for $12.7 million. The allegations were first brought to the attention of the government through a former billing office employee who filed a qui tam (i.e., whistleblower) lawsuit under the False...

1. Shire PLC Subsidiaries to Pay $350 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations - The Justice Department announced today that Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC and other subsidiaries of Shire plc (Shire) will pay $350 million to settle federal and state False Claims Act allegations

Every compliance officer knows that effective compliance requires the participation of “an entire village.” While some organizations might think that hiring a compliance officer is all an organization needs to maintain compliance, that assumption could not be further from the truth.

1. Hack of Quest Diagnostics App Exposes Data of 34,000 Patients - “A medical laboratory company based in New Jersey said Monday that it was investigating a recent hack that exposed the personal health information of about 34,000 people.”

11,343 individuals and entities have been excluded from participation in federal healthcare programs. The federal government has been awarded or negotiated over $6.8 billion in healthcare fraud judgments and settlements.

Tuomey, a community-based hospital in South Carolina, and the US government, recently resolved a False Claims Act judgement that resulted in a whopping $72 million dollar settlement.

It all started in 2005 when a physician at Tuomey decided to blow the whistle.