Mar 31, 2020 | Health Care
On March 30, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG”) issued a press release entitled “Message from leadership on minimizing burdens on providers.” In that press release, the OIG stated that it “places a high...
Mar 27, 2020 | Health Care
On March 17, the Trump administration announced that, due to the COVID-19 crisis, Medicare providers may now use phone and video conference, including FaceTime and Skype, to see patients, with no penalties. This includes blanket HIPAA waivers, as well as Medicare...
Mar 18, 2020 | Health Care, HIPAA
Trump Administration Loosens Telehealth and HIPAA Rules to Help Combat COVID-19 Crisis Earlier today, March 17, 2020, the Trump administration announced that, due to the COVID-19 crisis, Medicare providers may now use phone and video conference, including FaceTime and...
Feb 21, 2020 | Health Care
In a press release issued last month, the Department of Justice announced its first criminal prosecution under the Eliminating Kickback in Recovery Act (EKRA). Defendant Theresa Merced – who is 80 years old – pled guilty and admitted to soliciting kickbacks from a...
Jan 17, 2020 | Health Care
On January 15, 2020, a federal jury found Dr. Jorge Zamora-Quezada, a Texas rheumatologist, guilty for his participation in a $325 million health care fraud scheme. Dr. Zamora-Quezada was indicted on May 9, 2018, for, amongst other crimes, health care fraud,...
Jan 11, 2020 | Health Care
On January 9, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had recovered over $3 billion from False Claims Act cases in fiscal year 2019. Nearly 75% of that was the result of qui tam whistleblower lawsuits. According to the DOJ, of the total recovery,...
