Qui Tam

Virginia firm settles Qui tam litigation for $225 Million

By Brian F. LaBovick

Virginia based Amerigroup settles Qui tam suit for $225 million for allegedly systematically avoiding to enroll pregnant women and unhealthy patients in their Medicaid managed-care program in Illinois, which served low-income people. The company will also pay $9 million in legal fees to the United States and the State of Illinois and will not admit any wrong doing.

It is also important to note that the  Whistleblower, Cleveland Tyson, will receive $56 million, a 25% share of the $225 million qui tam settlement.

According to published reports, AMERIGROUP Illinois voluntarily ended its contract with Illinois in 2006 and no longer operates in that State. The Company states that they have also has expanded internal corporate compliance program significantly to fully ensure compliance with state and federal regulations in its health plans. After paying  $234 Million and their own legal fees, which are not cheap, I would think they would learn from this very expensive lesson.

It is sad that it had to come to this. Amerigroup on the surface seems to be a good corporate citizen with its outreach efforts in the Community. One of their divisions, The AMERIGROUP C.A.R.E.S. (Community Assistance & Resources to Empower Students), recently put on a back to school fair. This was a joint effort to help struggling parents with free health screenings and back to school supplies. We applaud the Corporation for such great public service. However, we do not condone their behavior in defrauding the government. If they would have done what was right in the beginning, they could have had more money to invest in giving back to the Community and making their programs better for their customers.

As a law firm that is deeply committed to helping end the health care crisis in our Country. We are  are actively involved in community outreach efforts to parents without health insurance for their kids. We recently sponsored a Back to School Fair and helped parents get signed up for the Florida KidCare health insurance program. We had hundreds of parents and children show up for free school supplies and to learn more about the Florida KidCare health insurance for their kids. In Florida, if you know of a child that does not have health insurance for their children, have them call 1-888-540-KIDS or log onto www.Floridakidcare.org 

Click here to read more on this $225 qui tam  Amerigroup settlement from the Wallstreet Journal
 

Full post as published by Whistleblower Law Blog on August 21, 2008 (boomark / email).