US False Claims Act settlements bring in $3 billion-plus in FY2019

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed on Friday that it has obtained more than $3 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019.

Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the DoJ’s Civil Division said that recoveries since 1986, when Congress substantially strengthened the civil False Claims Act, now total more than $62 billion.

Of the more than $3 billion in settlements and judgments recovered by the DoJ this past fiscal year, $2.6 billion relates to matters that involved the health care industry, including drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories, and physicians.  This is the tenth consecutive year that the department’s civil health care fraud settlements and judgments have exceeded $2 billion.  The amounts included in the $2.6 billion reflect only federal losses, but in many of these cases the department was instrumental in recovering additional millions of dollars for state Medicaid programs.