Recoveries Down Under Federal False Claims Act But Likely To Rise Again

Litigation Partners Jeremy Sternberg and Megan Jeschke were quoted in a MedCity News article about the decrease in funds collected by healthcare companies under the False Claims Act in 2020. The article indicates that, while COVID-19 may have hampered investigations and led authorities to shift resources to more obvious frauds, the pandemic also created new targets to investigate, including telemedicine and CARES Act funding.

“One of the challenges of the pandemic is that traditional in-person government audits of all kinds of businesses isn’t taking place,” said Mr. Sternberg.

Ms. Jeschke cautioned against reading too much into the drop. “The FCA statistics should be viewed holistically and when we do so, we see an overall trajectory of increased recoveries, increased cases and increased non-qui tam cases,” Ms. Jeschke said, referring to cases initiated by the government itself, as opposed to whistleblowers. “This indicates there will be active and robust FCA landscape for years to come.”

READ: Recoveries Down Under Federal False Claims Act But Likely To Rise Again