Stuart M. Gerson, Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care & Life Sciences practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, and New York offices, was quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Health Care Daily Report, in “Pennsylvania Health Network Accuses Hospital of Running Racket,” by Matt Phifer. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
A large Pennsylvania hospital network is invoking a statute intended to deal with organized crime in claiming another hospital fraudulently took state money that should have gone to the network. …
Stuart Gerson, an attorney in Epstein Becker Green’s health care and life science practice in Washington and a former acting U.S. attorney general, also wasn’t surprised to see RICO used in cases like the St. Luke’s case. “You’re charged with racketeering, that besmirches you in your community. The fact is, given what the Supreme Court has decided, civil RICO doesn’t just apply to Mafia cases,” Gerson told Bloomberg Law. …
Gerson told Bloomberg Law there has been a number of civil RICO cases in recent years after the Supreme Court made it easier to bring such cases. “In a case where a federal false claim is questionable, this could be an attractive option,” Gerson said. …
Gerson noted that St. Luke’s will have to prove an intent to commit the violation, answer why Pennsylvania didn’t require repayment of the sums held in escrow, and deal with RICO’s statute of limitations.
