Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11911

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Publication type: news

Gov't Recovered $2B in 2007 Fraud Cases
Associated Press 2007 Nov 1
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/news.php?id=1896#newspost

Full text:

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department said Thursday that it obtained $2 billion in settlements in fraud cases during fiscal year 2007, with most of the recoveries resulting from whistleblower lawsuits.

Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers can sue companies or individuals that they believe have filed fraudulent claims with the federal government. If successful, they can receive from 15 percent to 30 percent of the proceeds, the department said.

Approximately $1.45 billion of the settlements resulted from whistleblower lawsuits in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, the department said. The individuals who filed suit were awarded $177 million.

Health care fraud accounted for the bulk of the settlements, with $1.54 billion stemming from cases involving programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The department said it is cracking down on various practices by pharmaceutical companies, such as inflating the price of drugs that are reimbursed by federal programs, paying kickbacks to physicians and pharmacists to induce drug purchases and promoting drugs for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, also known as “off-label” marketing.

In one of the largest settlements, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and one of its former subsidiaries agreed in late September to pay $515 million to settle federal and state allegations that it illegally promoted its anti-psychotic drug Abilify for several off-label uses.

In other settlements, oil and gas company ConocoPhillips’ Burlington Resources subsidiary paid the U.S. government $105.3 million in August to settle claims that it failed to pay sufficient natural gas royalties, the department said. ConocoPhillips bought Burlington Resources last year.

Software company Oracle Corp., meanwhile, paid $98.5 million early in fiscal 2007 to resolve allegations that PeopleSoft Inc., which it acquired in 2005, had overcharged the government on numerous contracts.