Health Care Whistleblowers Cashing In, GAO Finds

WASHINGTON–The greatest share of False Claims Act whistleblower
cases are health care fraud cases, the Government Accountability
Office has reported.

And health care fraud cases also are the most profitable for
whistleblowers.

Of a total 2,490 FCA whistleblower cases closed and unsealed
from 1987 through 2005, 1,145 health care fraud cases were filed,
the GAO said in its report, “Information on False Claims Act
Litigation.”

With a total of $5 billion from 385 recoveries, health care
fraud qui tam recoveries were the largest of any type of fraud.
According to the GAO, the total share amount for whistleblowers in
those health care fraud recoveries was $841 million.

The report was issued after Sen. Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa,
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Reps. James
Sensebrenner, Jr., R-Wis., and Chris Cannon, R.-Utah, requested
information concerning the relationship between the government and
whistleblowers in prosecuting FCA qui tam actions.

Of the $15 billion the government recovered under the FCA from
1987 through 2005, $9.6 billion was for recoveries related to qui
tam actions filed by whistleblowers, the GAO said.

The GAO found that agencies with the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Department of Defense were named more
regularly than other federal government agencies as alleged victims
of fraud in FCA cases–59 percent for HHS and 29 percent for the
DOD.

Growth in cases filed also was addressed in the findings: In
1987, HHS was named as the alleged fraud target in four qui tam
whistleblower cases, while in 2005 that number had increased to
270.

To access the GAO report, click here.