Today, TAFEF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in the case captioned ACLU et al. v. Eric Holder, et al., 09-2086. A copy of the amicus is available TAFEF.
Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund files amicus brief in ACLU et al. v. Eric Holder, et al. in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Missouri’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Ranked Number One in FY 2008, Despite Not Having a State False Claims Act
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said today that Missouri has earned the distinction of returning more money to the public fisc through Medicaid fraud prosecutions than any other state in the nation. This is, however, only when the federal Medicaid grant to Missouri is considered: according to national data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit obtained $18.81 for every federal dollar received in federal fiscal year 2008.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received a grant of $1,582,000 from HHS in federal fiscal year 2008, and used that funding to recover $29,753,505, for the return rate of $18.81 per grant dollar and the number one ranking nationally.
As a lawyer practicing in the area of qui tam litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the various state false claims acts, I would not be doing my duty if I didn’t point out some of the puffery in General Koster’s statement.
First, although Missouri does not have a state false claims act, it still benefits from the national cases filed by qui tam whistleblowers. Missouri particularly benefited from the national drug settlements in 2008, several of which were in the billions of dollars, and all of which were initiated by qui tam whistleblowers with personal, first-hand knowledge of the fraud.
Second, Missouri’s achievement must be put in perspective. The total amount recovered by Missouri in 2008 was $29.7 million–when compared to Virginia’s $650 million in 2007 using the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, we see that Missouri’s achievements become a little more humble.
General Koster said: “Efficiency of government is critical, particularly during these challenging economic times,” Koster said. “Missouri’s Medicaid Fraud Unit has used all tools available to aggressively investigate and prosecute Medicaid fraud, and return those stolen health care dollars to Missouri.”
They may well have used all of the tools available to them, but they did not push for the most important weapon–a state false claims act with qui tam whistleblower provisions.
I must say that I find it strange that Koster did not mention qui tam whistleblowers as part of his equation–and he also didn’t use this press opportunity to push for passage of a state false claims act.
General Koster is no doubt a very capable AG, and he no doubt has a very fine staff, but they need the proper tools to really be able to make a difference.
Below is the ranking of recovery rates per federal grant dollar spent:
RANK, STATE, PER GRANT DOLLAR
1. Missouri $18.81
2. North Carolina $18.38
3. Tennessee $17.13
4. West Virginia $15.69
5. Ohio $15.38
6. Maine $14.73
7. South Carolina $14.25
8. Minnesota $13.67
9. Nebraska $11.36
10. Georgia $10.79
11. Texas $10.77
12. Kentucky $10.13
13. Kansas $ 9.21
14. Massachusetts $ 9.18
15. Indiana $ 8.92
16. Oklahoma $ 8.83
17. Washington $ 8.61
18. New Jersey $ 8.07
19. Vermont $ 8.02
20. New Hampshire $ 7.52
21. Oregon $ 7.34
22. Maryland $ 7.27
23. Pennsylvania $ 7.12
24. Louisiana $ 6.83
25. Florida $ 6.76
26. New York $ 6.65
27. Alabama $ 6.54
28. Virginia $ 6.04
29. Michigan $ 5.75
30. California $ 5.70
31. Illinois $ 5.55
32. South Dakota $ 5.51
33. Mississippi $ 5.17
34. Connecticut $ 4.80
35. Utah $ 4.56
36. Iowa $ 3.99
37. Wisconsin $ 3.91
38. District of Columbia $ 3.69
39. Colorado $ 3.66
40. Rhode Island $ 3.40
41. Arkansas $ 2.65
42. Nevada $ 2.15
43. Arizona $ 2.07
44. Wyoming $ 1.96
45. Hawaii $ 1.15
46. Alaska $ 1.02
47. New Mexico $ 1.00
48. Montana $ .92
49. Delaware $ .78
50. Idaho $ .06
State Legislative Update for 2010
Over the next several weeks, state legislatures across the country will convene and begin the 2010 legislative session. We will follow those states considering passing false claims-style legislation and provide updates where available.
In particular, on the watch list for this year are Maryland and Arizona, where there have been specific efforts to organize our folks this year.
Stay tuned.
State Sen. Jamie Raskin fires the opening salvo in this year’s fight for a Maryland False Claims Act
The Maryland legislature has failed to pass a Maryland False Claims Act in each of the last two legislative sessions. Each time, the bill failed by a single vote in the state Senate.
This year will be different. We have a bona fide champion in the Maryland state Senate for the first time–state Sen. Jamie Raskin, who fired the opening salvo yesterday.
Although Gov. O’Malley strongly supported the bill last time around, what we lacked was a true champion in the legislature. Raskin–who many see as a strong future candidate for Attorney General–is just the man for the job.
Stay tuned….
Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli Staffs Up the Office of the Attorney General
The WaPo political blog has important updates about the staffing of Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli’s office.
It appears Ken has made some good choices, picking people with significant legal experience. Perhaps most significant for the FCA/qui tam world is Cuccinelli’s selection of Steve Buck–who spent the last three years as Section Chief of the Health Care Fraud Section of the OAG–to head up Public Safety and Enforcement.
Charles E. James will serve as Chief Deputy–James has been a partner at Williams Mullen, as well as a federal prosecutor, and has handled numerous appeals. Duncan Getchell will fill the Solicitor General’s role–as the former chair of the appellate practice group at McGuireWoods, he is no doubt well-qualified.
This is by any measure a very qualified legal team–now let’s see what happens.
Fraud on the Government–a true Equal Opportunity Employer
Robert Mason, a deaf blogger who met Yeh through Gallaudet, is among those who said the charges seem out of character. Yeh has supported the university, Mason said, even inviting students to his home. “I personally found John Yeh to be a person of integrity and compassion and sincerity,” he said. “Yeh always had been an ardent supporter of deaf people to be successful in their own right.” 
The Washington Post today has this story about deaf entrepreneur John Yeh and a false claims act case filed against him by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Yeh is a graduate of Gallaudet University, and has been at the forefront of the deaf community for some years. His company, Viable Communications, provides services to the deaf, including services which allow deaf individuals to place calls.
DOJ alleges that Viable and Yeh defrauded the federal government for tens of millions of dollars by “ginning up bogus calls,” among other things.
As an aside, we also see a typical response from a friend or associate of an individual accused of FCA violations. WaPo quoted:
Well guess what? Just because someone is an “ardent supporter of deaf people” doesn’t mean they won’t rip off the government if they get the chance. The simple fact is that good people sometimes do bad things–and as anyone who has ever attended more than a few criminal sentencings can tell you, bad people even do good things sometimes.
The case was apparently filed in a U.S. District Court in New Jersey; no word on whether the case was initiated by a whistleblower.
President Obama Signs the Franken Amendments into Law
(1) enter into any agreement with any of its employees or independent contractors that requires, as a ccondition of employment, that the employee or independent contractor agree to resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention; or
Today, President Obama signed the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill into law. Significantly, the bill included the so-called “Franken Amendments” which requires all contractors with more than $1 million in revenues from using mandatory arbitration provisions in their employment agreements. Specifically, military contractors may not:
(2) take any action to enforce any provision of an existing agreement with an employee or independent contractor that mandates that the employee or independent contractor resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.
It will be interesting to see how these provisions play out.
GMU Law School Sponsors Lecture on the False Claims Act
I am honored to be joining Alan S. Goldberg, Peter B. Hutt II, and Victor Kubli in presenting a lecture on the federal False Claims Act at the George Mason University School of Law today. The lecture is sponsored by GMU’s Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy, and it may well be available soon as a podcast.
Extra special thanks to Angela Barnes and the rest of the Journal staff for all of their hard work putting this together.
News from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia: United States Intervenes in False Claims Act Suit Against Virginia Medicaid Providers
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia have intervened in a False Claims Act suit in the Western District of Virginia against the Medicaid providers Universal Health Services Inc., Keystone Marion LLC and Keystone Education and Youth Services LLC, the Justice Department announced today. They did business as the Keystone Marion Youth Center, a residential facility in Marion, Va., that receives Medicaid funds to provide psychiatric counseling and treatment for boys ages 11-17.
To read the full press release, click here.