◆ The Department of Justice said Feb. 1 it got $5.6 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2021.^[1] Most of it, $5 billion, came from health care matters, including cases involving drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories and physicians.

◆ In another Provider Relief Fund (PRF) case, Ocean Mind and Body, a medical supply company in Encinitas, California, and its CEO, Laura Rausa, agreed to pay $62,528 in a civil monetary penalty settlement with the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). According to the settlement, which was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, in April 2020, Ocean Mind and Body received a PRF payment. On April 28, 2020, OIG alleged that Rausa “attested in the HHS Provider Relief Fund Portal that Ocean Mind and Body was eligible to receive this payment because, among other things, it provides or provided after January 31, 2020, diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19. However, Ocean Mind and Body did not provide diagnoses, testing, or care for any individuals after January 31, 2020. The OIG contends that Respondents knowingly made, used, or caused to be made a false statement in a document that is required to be submitted in order to directly or indirectly receive or retain funds provided in whole or in part by the Secretary of HHS, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7a(o)(2).” Ocean Mind and Body and Rausa didn’t admit liability in the settlement.