US govt recovers over $4.7 billion from False Claims Act cases in FY 2016

The US government has obtained more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2016 ending September 30, with more than half coming from the health care industry.

Department of Justice Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, announced the findings yesterday. This is the third highest annual recovery in False Claims Act history, bringing the fiscal year average to nearly $4 billion since fiscal year 2009, and the total recovery during that period to $31.3 billion.

Of the $4.7 billion recovered, $2.5 billion came from the health care industry, including drug companies, medical device companies, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, and physicians. The $2.5 billion recovered in fiscal year 2016 reflects only federal losses. In many of these cases, the Department was instrumental in recovering additional millions of dollars for state Medicaid programs. This is the seventh consecutive year the Department’s civil health care fraud recoveries have exceeded $2 billion.