- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Adrianne Appel2022-10-11T15:45:00
The high price on Biogen’s $900 million settlement for False Claims Act (FCA) violations shows the government is still keenly interested in cases of illegal kickbacks in physician referrals, experts and attorneys said.
“It’s a wake-up call to companies that they need to remain diligent in their compliance in this area,” said David Colapinto, partner at whistleblower law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto.
Last month, Biogen finalized settlement of the lawsuit, after years of litigation by former employee Michael Bawduniak. Bawduniak, represented by boutique law firm Greene, alleged the company paid illegal kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe Biogen’s multiple sclerosis drugs.
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Biogen finalized a $900 million settlement concerning alleged kickbacks it paid to doctors to induce them to prescribe the company’s drugs and not those of its competitors.
Essilor, a manufacturer and distributor of optical lenses and equipment, will pay $22 million to settle allegations it paid kickbacks to spur sales in violation of the False Claims Act.
False Claims Act settlements totaled more than $5.6 billion in the past federal fiscal year, the second-largest amount ever collected by the government in FCA actions in one year, according to the Department of Justice.
DaVita, a multi-state dialysis provider, agreed to pay more than $34 million to resolve allegations it engaged in numerous kickback schemes to doctors who referred Medicare patients to its dialysis centers, the Department of Justice announced.
A multi-state hospice home health provider agreed to pay $19.4 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks and knowingly billed federal health programs to treat non-terminally ill patients.
California-based cancer testing company Guardant Health agreed to pay more than $945,000 to settle allegations levied by the Department of Justice of violating the False Claims Act and Stark Law.
