June 2012
Current Trends in False Claims Act Enforcement in Health Care
Westlaw Journal Health Care Fraud Reporter
Combating health care fraud has been a top priority of the Obama administration since announcing formation of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) in May 2009 – and the False Claims Act has served as the federal government's most powerful civil enforcement tool. In the three years since the HEAT initiative began, the Department of Justice has used the FCA to recover more than $6.6 billion in federal health care dollars, which is "more recovered under the act than in any other three-year period" and amounts to a $7 recovery for every dollar spent on enforcement activities.