Qui Tam Update Highlights Failed Compliance Program and Dermatology Sweetheart Deals
Mintz Levin’s Health Care Enforcement Defense Practice has published its most recent Qui Tam Update, analyzing overall trends in 36 recently unsealed health care related whistleblower cases.
In this issue, the team highlights a case that was filed back in 2006, with allegations that focus on a hospital’s failure to maintain a culture of compliance.
- United States Of America ex rel. Dan Bisk, State Of New York ex rel. Dan Bisk v. Westchester Medical Center, 1:06cv15296 (S.D.N.Y) – the defendant’s former compliance officer alleged a variety of FCA and Stark Law violations involving the New York hospital, and claimed the defendant retaliated against him; the government focused its investigation on a particular physician practice group.
The team also reviews a trio of cases against the same defendant, alleging dermatology sweetheart deals.
- United States ex rel. Ross v. Family Dermatology of Penn., P.C., No. 1:11-cv-2413 (N.D. Ga.); United States ex rel. Baucom v. Family Dermatology of Penn., P.C., No. 1:11-cv-4260 (N.D. Ga.); and United States ex rel. Milstein v. Family Dermatology, P.C., 1:13-cv-01027 (N.D. Ga.) – the relators had different levels of involvement with the defendants, but each is a physician who alleged that the multi-state dermatology practice, and its husband and wife owners, would buy dermatology practices, then enter into independent contractor agreements with the remaining physicians, and require them to refer their pathology specimens to a lab owned by the defendants, in violation of FCA, Stark Law and AKS.
Read the full Qui Tam Update for more information about these cases, and the trends we’ve observed in all of the recently unsealed cases. In our Qui Tam Update series, we monitor recently unsealed FCA cases, identify trends in health care enforcement, and discuss noteworthy cases and developments. To receive the Qui Tam Update by email, subscribe here.