New DOJ Whistleblower Program Greatly Increases Risk

In the October issue of Healthcare Risk Management, Woods Rogers attorney Justin Lugar provides his perspective as a former Department of Justice Civil Health Care Fraud Coordinator as a new whistleblower creates waves in the industry. The Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program aims to uncover and prosecute corporate crime. Under the terms, whistleblowers can receive up to $50 million dollars, leaving many healthcare providers and organizations at great risk.

“I think it is a bit of a game changer because now there is an incentive to individuals who believe they have information about wrongdoing related not just to government-funded programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, but they can monetize information that they have about potential fraud relating to private healthcare payers,” Justin told the publication in an interview. “Previously, you would be limited under the False Claims Act to just damages related to public payers, so this widens the net. For whistleblowers, the information that one might possess within a healthcare organization that is able to be monetized has now changed. That increases the risk for healthcare organizations.”

View the full article in Healthcare Risk Management here.