If you believe that that you are immune to a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit because you are not intentionally trying to defraud the government – THINK AGAIN.
A simple mistake related to any number of average daily tasks performed by your practice’s providers and staff can easily land you in serious legal hot water. Simple errors when coding your claims, billing patients, unidentified overpayments, signing contracts, incomplete medical-necessity documentation, working with vendors, referring patients, etc. can lead to a government audit, uncovered FCA violations and ultimately court.
Even though you are not immune to a False Claims Act lawsuit, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your practice. This is where healthcare attorney, Norman Acker, ESQ, can help.
Norman has presented a complimentary online training session specifically to help medical and dental practices that contract with Medicare (or other federal agencies) avoid a False Claims Act lawsuit. During this training, you’ll receive practical advice that will help you identify hot zones in your practice and resolve them before they land you in court.
Here are just a few of the False Claim Act lawsuit avoidance tactics you’ll receive by attending this online training:
- Stop a lawsuit in its tracks by bulletproofing your practice compliance plan
- Protect against easy-to-make Kickback mistakes in your vendor contracts
- Uncover when billing for provider/patient audio-only communications can get you sued
- Correctly respond to employee complaints and reduce whistleblower lawsuits
- Head off telemedicine coding/billing fraud claims with latest post-COVID rules
- Prevent common patient referral mistakes that can get you sued
- Document employee training to head off erroneous Qui tam compliant allegations
- Avoid making things worse by incorrectly responding to a gov’t violation notice
- Halt balance billing violations related to Stark and Kickback statutes
- Identify when and if it’s okay to write off co-pays and/or deductibles
- And so much more…
WARNING: Your employees are even incentivized to identify and inform the government of fraud by filing a Qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act. In return, your employee is paid a percentage of the penalties/fees collected. By attending this online training, you’ll gain the skills necessary to better protect your practice from this risk.
Penalties associated with False Claims Act violations continue to rise each year. One key factor of this increase is based on Medicare’s reported improper payment rate. In 2021, Medicare calculated that they overpaid $8.5 Billion in outpatient claims. Rest assured, the Agency is working hard to get that money back with amped up provider audits and intensive investigations to uncover False Claims Act fraud.
Being found guilty of violating the False Claim Act can result in significant financial penalties. The rule of thumb is that penalties are calculated based on 3 times the total determined damages, plus fines of $12,537 to $25,076 for EACH violation.
Remember you don’t have to intentionally do something wrong to be the target of a False Claims Act lawsuit, or to be found guilty of a violation (regardless of your practice size, specialty or location). Don’t risk it, register for this online training today and get the necessary tactics to protect your practice.
G. Norman Acker III is of counsel at K&L Gates, in the firm’s Research Triangle Park office. Norman brings more than three decades of experience as an Assistant United States Attorney to help guide clients facing government False Claims Act investigations or other allegations of fraud or abuse of government programs. He is a member of the Health Care and FDA practice.
Prior to joining the firm, Norman served as acting U.S. attorney, the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Eastern District of North Carolina. That office is responsible for prosecuting all federal crimes in the district, including drug crimes, violent crimes, white collar fraud, terrorism, and public corruption.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) also represents the United States in civil court, handling a wide variety of civil litigation. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for more than 30 years, focusing his practice on the investigation and civil prosecution of health care fraud and other fraud against the government. In this capacity, he worked closely with the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division (NC-MID), the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Service (DCIS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies.
For 17 years, he served as the Deputy Chief of the Civil Division, where he both handled his own case load of civil fraud and health care fraud cases, as well as supervising all of the civil fraud, health care fraud, and False Claims Act cases for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
He has received numerous awards and commendations from federal and state agencies in recognition of his collection of more than US$100 million in connection with False Claims Act litigation. He served briefly as the civil chief, supervising all civil litigation for the USAO, before becoming the first assistant, supervising all civil, criminal, and appellate litigation in the office.
