Qui Tam

Kindred Health settles qui tam suit for $1.3 million

By Brian F. LaBovick

Today, a qui tam suit that was brought against Kindred Healthcare, Inc. was settled for just over $1.3 million.  United States Attorney Russ Dedrick announced today that Kindred Healthcare, Inc. and its successor PharMerica Healthcare Pharmacy, LLC, have agreed to settle claims that Kindred violated state and federal laws regarding over-billing TennCare and the Medicaid program for pharmaceuticals.

The healthcare corporation provides medications to patients in group homes and long-term care facilities throughout Tennessee. It was alleged that between 2003 through 2006, Kindred overbilled for a higher number of drugs than were actually administered. There were instances where the overbilling occured multiple times the proper amount. 

Thanks to the valiant efforts of a former billing clerk employee of Kindred, this qui tam lawsuit was filed on behalf of the the United States and Tennessee under the qui tam provisions of the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act and the federal False Claims Act.. The whistleblower/ relator in this case will be rewarded over $200,000 for her role in filing the complaint and assisting with the investigation.

As mentioned previously on the Whistleblower Law Blog:

In a qui tam suit,  the whistleblower also known as a "relator" may be entitled to
15-30% of the government's total recovery, which includes damages for the false bills, tripled, plus civil penalties of from $5,000 to $10,000 per false claim. However, it is important to mention, that the relator/whistleblower must have complied with the statutory requirements to be eligible for the whistleblower reward.

To learn more on the Kindred settlement, read the DOJ release reqarding the qui tam settlement for Kindred Health.

To learn more on qui tam and the federal false claims act, visit our qui tam section on the LaBovick website.

Full post as published by Whistleblower Law Blog on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).