The United States government sued Johnson & Johnson claiming that the company paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to the Omnicare pharmacy chain to buy and recommend medications.

According to the lawsuit filed January 15, 2010, Johnson & Johnson made payments to Omnicare, the nations largest senior care pharmacy, in exchange for buying and recommending Johnson & Johnson drugs, including its antipsychotic medication Risperdal. The payments allegedly persuaded Omnicare pharmacies to switch patients from other anti-psychotic medications to Risperdal.

Johnson & Johnson argues that it did not violate the False Claims act or Anti-Kickback statute. The company claims the United States government is trying to brand allowable rebates as illegal.

The Qui Tam attorneys of Tycko & Zavareei LLP are experienced in healthcare fraud investigations and litigation, and are here to help you with a free, confidential, initial consultation. Contact us at 202-973-0900 today.

Across seven states, nine hospitals have been found responsible and guilty in a Medicare fraud suit. The payment, in total, that was settled upon was a $9.4 million claim. A whistleblower suit was responsible for originally bringing the hospitals to court.

According to the 2008 lawsuit, hospitals were found keeping patients with kyphoplasty an additional night, charging Medicare for the expenses. However, kyphoplasty is considered an outpatient procedure, meaning that patients staying overnight were in the hospital under unnecessary terms.

Of the nine hospitals in the suit, seven were implicated in another 2008 suit involving kyphoplasties. In this case, the company Medtronic Spine was found guilty of defrauding the government of about $20 million in connection with the hospitals. Medtronic Spine itself was forced to settle for $75 million in another Medicare fraud case at a previous date.

The Justice Department was pleased to see the funds return to the government, as they can go back into legitimately operating hospitals and health care facilities.

If you or someone you know is in a position to act as a whistleblower against fraud, there may be a legal course of action that could recover funds for the government. Contact the Qui Tam lawyers of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, at 202-973-0900 today to discuss your suit.

A settlement was reached between the federal government and several New York City ambulance companies to dismiss a qui tam suit filed under the False Claims Act, leading to a $2.85 million pledge to repay the fraudulent claims.

According to the federal government, Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp., Metro North Ambulance Corp., and Big Apple Ambulance Service Inc. all filed for Medicare refunds after completing a series of non-emergency trips using ambulances. The law prohibits refunds for non-emergency trips only if the patient in question is reasonably incapable of getting to a hospital or clinic by any other means. The U.S. government claimed that the suspected companies could not prove adequate reasons for their actions, and committed themselves to fraud instead of admitting fault.

Since January 2009, the U.S. Justice Department has reported $3 billion in recovered fraud funds in cases related to health care and Medicare alone through the False Claims Act.

If you or someone you know has information that could lead to a whistleblower case, contact the Qui Tam attorneys of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, at 202-973-0900 today.