The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic saw an unprecedented coming together of the health care industry to treat communities beset by a deadly virus that strained provider resources across the country. But just as normalcy returns, enforcement arms of the federal government have announced action against bad actors who took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to implement fraudulent schemes designed to specifically exploit the pandemic.
In separate actions on May 26, 2021, the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Center for Program Integrity, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CPI/CMS) announced cases against multiple defendants who perpetrated a variety of COVID-19-related scams on federal healthcare programs. The DOJ charged 14 defendants who are alleged to have defrauded the government of over $143 million in false billings in the aggregate, while the CPI/CMS began administrative proceedings against more than 50 providers who took advantage of CMS programs meant to increase care access during the pandemic.
Continue Reading Combating COVID Crimes: First Wave of DOJ Enforcement Actions Target Fraudulent Schemes