Sarah M. Hall, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Bloomberg Law, in “Criminal Health Care Fraud Enforcement Expected to Remain Robust,” by Holly Barker. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Although the Justice Department is scaling back enforcement of some white collar criminal laws, there’s no reason to think that health care fraud enforcement is going anywhere—at least if history is any indicator.
The DOJ was “extremely active” in health care fraud enforcement during President Donald Trump‘s first term, including two of the largest national federal health care fraud “takedowns” in history—one involving 412 defendants and another involving 601 defendants—according to Epstein Becker & Green PC partner Sarah Hall.
And to the extent enforcement priorities will focus on returning money to government coffers, health care enforcement is a “tried and true way to do that,” she said. …
With enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act paused and reoriented to target cartels and transnational organized crime, there could be more interest in and availability for health care fraud enforcement.
And the demand for health care fraud enforcement is only growing. As the number of people eligible for Medicare grows, so does the opportunity for fraud, Hall said. …
The next national health care fraud takedown should provide additional insight, and it might not be far off—they usually happen once or twice a year, Hall said.
