Included in the eBook:
- Health Care Fraud Enforcement in 2024
- False Claims Act Enforcement: Looking Back and What to Expect in 2024
- SEC to Continue Aggressive Enforcement Efforts in 2024 After Record-Setting 2023
- Reflecting on Higher Education Compliance and Investigations Trends in 2023 and Looking Ahead to 2024
- Anticorruption Enforcement and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Trends to Track in 2024
- Enforcement of U.S. Trade Sanctions and Export Controls in 2023 and What to Expect in 2024
- Congressional Investigations: A Review of Investigations Likely to Continue in 2024 and Into the 119th Congress
- Massachusetts' New Attorney General - a Look Back and a Look at the Year Ahead
- Tennessee v. BlackRock: How This Case Informs How We Look Back and Look Ahead at ESG
- Criminal Tax Enforcement - What to Look for in 2024
Excerpt
The government had another busy year in 2023, investigating and
prosecuting healthcare fraud cases on multiple fronts. Contending
with the enormous healthcare crises of the now-concluded COVID-19
pandemic and the ongoing opioid epidemic, the government has
deployed considerable resources to combat allegedly fraudulent
schemes that have resulted in financial loss to the government and
individual harm. Meanwhile, new technology has shifted the
enforcement landscape, with the government targeting telemedicine
fraud and relying ever-increasingly on data analytics to identify
suspected outliers associated with potential fraud.
But the government's most powerful tool for combating health
care fraud remains, as always, the False Claims Act (FCA). In 2023,
we saw an unprecedented number of investigations and settlements,
as well as significant case law developments. We expect to see
similar priorities and enforcement levels as we examine healthcare
fraud enforcement in 2024.
Covid-19 Pandemic Fraud
Though some years have passed since the height of COVID-19, the government has not slowed down in bringing enforcement actions related to the pandemic. In fact, at the recent Federal Bar Association's Qui Tam Conference on February 22, 2024, Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton stated that COVID-19 fraud has been, and will continue to be, an FCA enforcement priority this year. In particular, Boynton stated that the key focus will be on fraud involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided loans to eligible small businesses for payroll, rent, utility payments, and other business-related costs. Corroborating these remarks, DOJ recently announced in a press release on February 22, 2024, that, among its record-breaking number of FCA settlements and judgments in 2023, DOJ has resolved approximately 270 FCA matters involving the PPP loans, amounting to nearly $48.3 million of recovery to the government. Many of these cases involved small businesses and individuals who used PPP loans in unauthorized ways, such as purchasing luxury items and sports cars.
Click here to download the eBook.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.