The Whistleblower & Anti-Fraud Blog
Management pressured staff to inflate Medicare reimbursements by “upcoding” and “ramping.”
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that arrangements with a third-party litigation funder did not deprive a whistleblower of legal “standing” to pursue her claims under the False Claims Act. It also upheld a $255 million jury verdict for Medicare fraud against the two Florida skilled nursing facilities where the whistleblower worked and the management firms that ran them.
The court’s decision in Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation counts as a significant victory for whistleblowers. Healthcare industry defense lawyers are fretting about its potential consequences.