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Healthcare fraud hurts everyone – patients, consumers, and taxpayers. In an effort to prevent fraud and compensate the victims of healthcare fraud, the False Claims Act penalizes those who commit fraud by imposing hefty fines and penalties.
Like any legal action, False Claims Act lawsuits are lengthy and challenging legal actions that involve a significant investment from the whistleblowers, their lawyers, and the government. But new data shows that the enforcement of healthcare fraud is well worth the investment – with every dollar invested by the government returning at least $20 back to the American people.
In Fighting Medicare & Medicaid Fraud: The Return on Investment from False Claims Act Partnerships, healthcare economist Jack Meyer looked at the total costs of investigating and prosecuting healthcare fraud, and compared those costs to the amount of money returned to the Federal treasury after discounting for whistleblower awards which compensate the whistleblowers for their help in fighting healthcare fraud.
According to Meyer’s calculations, during the 5-year period from 2008 to 2012, the Federal government spent $574.6 million in federal healthcare fraud cases and recovered $9.384 billion in federal civil healthcare fraud related settlements and judgments, for a return-on-investment of over 16 to 1. Additionally, during the same five-year period, the federal government collected more than $4.539 billion in federal criminal recoveries in False Claims Act cases, and the states collected an additional $4.07 billion in civil recoveries associated with False Claims Act cases.
As Meyer concludes, “If all costs and benefits are accounted for, the benefit to cost ratio of False Claims Act law enforcement now exceeds 20:1. Civil health care fraud is one area where federal and state governments are recovering far more than they are spending."
At Goldberg Kohn, our knowledgeable and skilled whistleblower attorneys understand the importance of comprehensive investigation and enforcement of healthcare fraud, and the critical role of whistleblowers in doing so. We focus on representing relators and other whistleblowers involved in qui tam actions, including those filed under the False Claims Act, and help them obtain maximum recovery for their role in prosecuting healthcare fraud. Contact us at (312) 863-7222 to learn more about our role in investigating and prosecuting healthcare fraud.