Foley & Lardner LLP partner Jason Mehta assessed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new whistleblower program and its impact on the health care industry in the Law360 article, “A ‘Watershed’ DOJ Tipster Program Eyes Private Payer Fraud.”
Mehta called it a “real watershed moment” for health care fraud enforcement. “I think it’s a big deal,” he said. “At the same time, I think it’s a continuation of tried-and-true practices that have worked for the government in other contexts.”
“To me, this creates both a lot of opportunities for the government and for whistleblowers, and it creates potential risk for health care providers,” Mehta explained. “A lot of health care providers have historically thought that if they weren’t billing federal programs, there was significantly more latitude. That might be closing because of this type of program.”
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