NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS

OIG calls for "further scrutiny" of pharmacies and prescribers in connection with compounded drugs billed to Medicare Part D.   Pharmacies must be prepared to aggressively defend against this latest attack on the independent retail pharmacy industry. An explosive new report calls for "further scrutiny" of hundreds of pharmacies and prescr...

A doctor's certification or medical judgment regarding a certain treatment can be considered "false" if the treatment is not considered "reasonable and necessary" under the government's definition, even if the terms are not defined for the specific medical treatment. In a recent decision, United States ex rel. Polukoff v. St. Mark's Hospital ,...

In a sweeping crackdown that vastly exceeded investigations of years' past, the U.S. Department of Justice and Medicare Fraud Strike Force charged 601 individuals with over $2 billion in healthcare fraud. In Brooklyn and Long Island alone, numerous healthcare providers were charged with over a combined $163 million in healthcare fraud. The Medicare...

Healthcare providers are increasingly feeling the cost of employing excluded individuals.Indeed, over the past year, the number of enforcement actions taken against physician's offices, pharmacies and other entities employing excluded individuals have risen sharply. "Excluded individuals" are parties excluded from Federally-funded healthcare progra...

Q.  When does a purely state criminal law-based matter transform into a federal felony prosecution? A.  When the Federal Travel Act (the "Travel Act") is implicated.Under the Act, a party who travels in interstate commerce or uses the mail or any facility in interstate commerce, with intent to promote or carry on "unlawful activities...

A recent health care fraud guilty plea by a physician has caught the attention of prescribing physicians and the broader industry surrounding compounded medications.Under the plea agreement in New Jersey District Court, the physician admitted to prescribing approximately $25 million worth of compounded medications that were either medically unneces...

Membership programs are a common tool used by retail pharmacies to grow their business. Under this type of program, a pharmacy will give member patients certain benefits, usually taking the form of rebates, discounts, or coupons on in-store items, as a way of developing customer loyalty. As these member patients often fill prescriptions at the same...

In what is becoming an annual tradition, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, comprised of members from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services (more about which can be read here ), announced the latest "unprecedented" healthcare fraud takedown. The nationwide bust netted more than 412 individuals suspected of a c...

Calling the attention of every New York Medicaid provider reimbursing its billing/collection agents on a percentage basis, the New York State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) has recently sent out recoupment letters demanding repayments of Medicaid funds paid to billing companies under fee-splitting arrangements. Notably, the recoupments actions ...