Since the advent of the Medicaid managed care program there has been a lingering question as to when a Medicaid dollar stopped being a Medicaid dollar.

With fee-for-service providers that were paid directly by the Medicaid program, the answer was always clear-cut – each dollar received from the Medicaid program was a Medicaid dollar and therefore it and the provider
Continue Reading 2019 Executive Budget Expands OMIG Oversight Authority

As New Yorkers are preparing for Thanksgiving and the official start to the holiday season (although some could argue it started a month ago), required Medicaid providers should also be reviewing their Compliance Programs in preparation to submit their Annual Provider Compliance Program Certification to the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (“OMIG”).  Required providers must submit
Continue Reading Medicaid Providers: Don’t Forget to Include Your Annual Compliance Program Certification to Your Holiday “To-Do” List.

The New York State Department of Health (DOH), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), recently announced a Request for Applications for the Health Workforce Retraining Initiative (HWRI).  This program was established pursuant to NYS Public Health Law §2807-g and is funded through the State’s Health Care Reform Act.  The 2018-19 Enacted New York State Budget included $9 million

Continue Reading NYS Department of Health Announces Workforce Retraining Funding Opportunity

Governor Cuomo's 2018-19 Healthcare Budget
New York State Healthcare Budget 2018-19

In the wee hours of the morning on March 30, almost two days ahead of the April 1 deadline, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a $168.3 billion State Budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year. The Enacted Budget maintains a self-imposed cap of 2% on spending increases, and averts
Continue Reading 2018-19 New York State Healthcare Budget

Health care fraud prosecutions in the Second Circuit and throughout the country have typically sought forfeiture money judgments against all defendants for the proceeds of the fraud obtained by all members of a health care fraud conspiracy.  The Supreme Court recently curtailed these efforts in Honeycutt v. United States.  In Honeycutt, the Court held that the forfeiture statute
Continue Reading Supreme Court Limitation on Forfeiture Will Impact Health Care Fraud Prosecutions

The Supreme Court recently allowed liability through the implied certification theory of the False Claims Act (FCA), which was raised and upheld in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar. The decision provided for a new applicable standard and resolved the split among circuit courts on whether to recognize the theory.

In Escobar, a teenaged
Continue Reading “Implied Certification” Theory Allowed Under the False Claims Act

The Supreme Court held last week that in a federal health care fraud prosecution, the Sixth Amendment prevents the government from obtaining a pretrial freeze of assets that were untainted by the alleged crime and that defendant sought to use to pay her lawyer.

In Luis v. United States, the government alleged that the defendant had been engaged in
Continue Reading Sixth Amendment Prevents Pretrial Restraint on Health Care Defendant’s Use of Untainted Funds To Pay Counsel

Leslie Caldwell, DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, spoke to the qui tam relators’ bar at a Taxpayers Against Fraud conference last month, stating a new DOJ policy for criminal and civil division coordination of qui tam cases, starting with intake. 

Taxpayers Against Fraud is an organization of whistleblowers and their counsel, which seeks to combat fraud against
Continue Reading DOJ Criminal Chief Caldwell Outlines New Joint Criminal-Civil Qui Tam Process

When does the 60-day clock start for an identified overpayment of federal funds to become a reverse false claim under amendments to the False Claims Act?  A closely watched SDNY qui tam  case may provide an answer. 

In June, the United States and New York intervened in United States v. Continuum Health Partners, Inc., alleging that defendants had knowingly
Continue Reading Dismissal Motions Filed In SDNY Computer Glitch Reverse False Claim Act Case

At the end of June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan filed a False Claims Act complaint against Beth Israel Medical Center, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, and Continuum Health Partners, United States v. Continuum Health Partners, Inc., alleging that defendants had knowingly failed to return overpayments owed to Medicaid arising out of a computer glitch. 

In 2010, the
Continue Reading Failure To Promptly Return Overpayments Arising From Computer Glitch Leads To False Claims Act Complaint