The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in one of my False Claims Act cases this week.  The case is captioned U.S. ex rel Ron Decesare v. Americare In Home Nursing, et al.  You can read the opinion here.

The case also includes a pendent state claim under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act for alleged violations of the Virginia Medicaid statute.

The opinion might prove to be of some interest to the qui tam bar.  To my knowledge no Court in the Fourth Circuit Court has previously ruled on the question of whether compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute ("AKS") is prerequisite for participants submitting requests for payment to government health care programs. 

Most federal courts in other jurisdictions to consider the issue have reached the same conclusion as Judge Cacheris, but there are still a few outlier opinions ruling the other way.