Phillips & Cohen, Attorneys at Law

<body bgcolor="white"> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="500"> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <center> <a href="AF_frm.htm" target="_top">About the Firm</a> | <a href="fca_f.htm" target="_top">The False Claims Act</a> | <a href="wr_f.htm" target="_top">Whistleblower's reward</a> | <a href="caintr_f.htm" target="_top">Have a case?</a><a href="story_f.htm" target="_top"><br> Whistleblowers' stories</a> | <a href="resman_f.htm" target="_top">Resources</a> | <a href="what_f.htm" target="_top">What's new</a> </center> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <td width="357" valign="top"><font size="4" color="#333366">Health care fraud</font></td> <td valign="top"><img src="../../GIF/PC_url.GIF" width="143" height="14" align="right"></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"><br> <p>Here is a list of articles about some of the qui tam cases involving Medicare fraud and other kinds of health care fraud brought by John R. Phillips, Mary Louise Cohen and the firm. The qui tam lawsuits discussed below include those brought against:</p> <ul> <li><a href="#omni">Omnicare Inc.</a> <li><a href="#sk">SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories </a> <li><a href="#damon">Damon Clinical Laboratories Inc. </a> <li><a href="#uni">Unilab Corp. </a> <li><a href="#corn">Corning Clinical Laboratories Inc.</a> <li><a href="#nat">National Health Laboratories Inc. </a> <li><a href="#scripps">Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation </a> </ul> <p><a name="omni"></a><b>Omnicare Inc.</b>: <i>The geriatric pharmaceutical care company paid $5.3 million in April 1998 to settle a qui tam lawsuit and civil charges of Medicaid fraud. The lawsuit and government charged that an Omnicare subsidiary in Illinois routinely recycled the unused drugs of dead nursing home patients and re-sold them to Medicaid for other nursing home patients.</i> </p> <ul> <li>"Omnicare pays $5.3 million to settle Medicaid whistleblower case," <i>Health Care Fraud Report</i>, 5/6/98. <li>"Omnicare pays $5.3 million to settle Medicaid whistleblower case alleging drug recycling," <i>Federal Contracts Report</i>, 4/27/98. <li>"Omnicare unit settles case for $5.3m," Tom Lowry, <i>USA Today</i>, 4/22/98. <li>"Whistleblowers get $217,000 in pharmacy firms fraud settlement," Roy Malone, <i>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</i>, 4/22/98. <li>"Omnicare pays $5.3m settlement," Ursula Miller, <i>Cincinnati Enquirer</i>, 4/22/98. <li>"Omnicare pays $5.3m to end drug complaint," Nick Miller, <i>The Cincinnati Post</i>, 4/22/98. </ul> <p><b>Dr. Badrudin Kurwa</b>: <i>The California ophthalmologist agreed in December 1997 to pay $375,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that charged he billed Medicare for services he never performed. </i> <ul> <li> <p>"California doctor settles fraud lawsuit for 10 times his Medicare payments," <i>Federal Contracts Report</i>, 12/17/97. </p> <li>"Arcadia doctor to pay medicare fraud damages," David R. Olmos, <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, 12/10/97. <li>"California doctor to pay $375k to settle allegations of overcharging Medicare," <i>Federal Contracts Report</i>, 12/15/97. <li>"Doctor settles charges," Frank C. Giradet, <i>Pasadena Star-News</i>, 12/10/97. </ul> <p><a name="sk"></a><b>SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories:</b><i> SmithKline agreed in February 1997 to pay $325 million to settle three whistleblower lawsuits. It was the second largest settlement ever made in a health care fraud case. The whistleblowers and federal government claimed that the company performed unnecessary tests, billed for tests that werent performed and gave physicians inducements to use SmithKline. Phillips & Cohen represented whistleblowers in one of the three qui tam lawsuits that were brought against SmithKline. </i></p> <ul> <li>"Anatomy of biggest whistleblower recovery yet," Anne Paxton, <i>Laboratory Industry Report</i>, March-April 1997. <li>"SmithKline to pay $325 million to settle federal claims of lab-billing fraud," Elyse Tanouye, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, 2/25/97. <li>"Drug firm to pay $325 million for overbilling," <i>The New York Times,</i> 2/25/97. <li>"Lab pays U.S. $325 million for overbilling," Roberto Suro, <i>The Washington Post</i>, 2/25/97. <li>"Laboratory firm settles fraud case," Mark Johnson, <i>The Richmond Times Dispatch</i>, 2/25/97. <li>"Drug firm pays $325m in fraud case; settlement for overbilling is second largest of its kind," Steven Findlay, <i>USA Today</i>, 2/25/97. <li>"SmithKline to pay $325 million in whistleblower suit," Shannon P. Duffy, <i>The Legal Intelligencer</i>," 2/25/97. <li>"Laboratory firm settles fraud case," Mark Johnson, <i>The Richmond Times Dispatch</i>, 2/25/97. <li>"Drug firm pays $325M in fraud case," Steven Findlay, <i>USA Today</i>, 2/25/97. </ul> <p><a name="damon"></a><b>Damon Clinical Laboratories Inc.</b> <b>(Corning Clinical Laboratories Inc.):</b> <i>Damon paid a total of $119 million in October 1996 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit and criminal charges that it had defrauded Medicare by performing and billing for unnecessary medical tests. Phillips & Cohen represented whistleblowers in one of the two lawsuits that were brought against Damon. </i></p> <ul> <li>"Corning to pay largest lab fraud probe penalty," Lisa Scott, <i>Modern Healthcare</i>, 10/14/96. <li>"Guilty plea OKd in record $119m health-fraud case," Ralph Ranalli, <i>The Boston Herald</i>, 10/11/96. <li>"Whistleblowers were disgusted by scam," Mark Muellert, <i>The Boston Herald</i>, 10/11/96. <li>"Corning to pay $119 million to settle a case of Medicare billing by Damon," Paulette Thomas, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, 10/10/96. <li>"Corning will plead guilty to Medicare fraud," Milt Freudenheim, <i>The New York Times</i>, 10/10/96. <li>"Needham lab fined $119m for fraud," Kimberly Blanton, <i>The Boston Globe</i>, 10/10/96. <li>"Blowing the whistle has big rewards," Tina Cassidy, <i>The Boston Globe</i>, 10/10/96. <li>"Lab fined a record $119m for med scam," Ralph Ranalli, <i>The Boston Herald</i>, 10/10/96. </ul> <p><a name="corn"></a><b>MetPath (Corning Clinical Laboratories Inc.)</b> <b>and Unilab Corp.</b>: <i>The two independent medical testing labs agreed in September 1996 to pay a total of $11 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit charging that they had overbilled Medicare and other government health-insurance programs by performing blood tests that had not been ordered.</i></p> <ul> <li>"Corning Labs deal halts suit," Jerry DeMarco, <i>The Record</i>, 9/20/96. <li>"Two labs will pay $11 million to settle overcharging case," <i>The San Francisco Daily Journal</i>, 9/30/96. <li>"Unilab, Corning settle with feds for $11 mil," <i>The Dark Report</i>, 9/23/96. </ul> <p><a name="uni"></a><b>Cornings MetPath division and MetWest (Unilab Corp.):</b><i> The two medical laboratories in September 1993 paid a total of $39.8 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged MetPath and MetWest had billed Medicare for unnecessary blood tests.</i><b> </b></p> <ul> <li>"Blood-testing labs pay U.S. $39.8 million," Spencer Rich, <i>The Washington Post</i>, 9/14/93. <li>"Corning unit, Unilab pay $39.8 million to settle allegations of Medicare fraud," Rhonda L. Rundle, <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, 9/14/93 </ul> <p><a name="nat"></a><b>National Health Laboratories Inc.:</b> <i>NHL paid $110 million in December 1992 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that charged the company routinely billed Medicare for unnecessary blood tests. </i></p> <ul> <li>"Lab firm to pay $110 million in blood test fraud," Dana Priest, <i>The Washington Post</i>, 12/19/92. <li>"$110 million payment set for fraud in health claims," Calvin Sims, <i>The New York Times</i>, 12/19/92. </ul> <p><a name="scripps"></a><b>Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation:</b> <i>In the first settlement of a False Claims Act case since the law was amended in 1986, Scripps paid $355,000 in April 1988 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged the eye clinic had billed Medicare for unnecessary surgery and operations that were never performed. A doctor at the clinic paid $250,000 in August 1990 to settle his portion of the lawsuit. </i></p> <ul> <li>"Whistleblowers: No easy job, but more workers vie for the title," Deanna Bellandi,<i> Modern Healthcare</i>, 12/22/97. <li>"This doctor turned in a colleague for Medicare fraud," M. Carroll Thomas, <i>Medical Economics</i>, 1/7/91. <li>"Medical group to pay $355,000 to Medicare," Kathie Bozanich, <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, 4/29/88. <li>"Whistleblower's lawsuit accuses Scripps Clinic, eye doctor of fraud,"Claire Spiegel, <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, 8/9/87. </ul> <p><br> </p> <p><br> <br> <br> </p> <center> <p><font size="1">© 1998 Phillips and Cohen. All rights reserved<br> <a href="cred_f.htm" target="_top">Credits</a></font></center> </td> </tr> </table></div> </body>