Dr. Caroline Poplin’s Letter to the NY Times Editor in response to David Goldhill’s Op Ed entitled “The Health Benefits That Cut Your Pay”

Dr. Caroline Poplin Articles, Whistleblower News

To the Editor:

With the best intentions, David Goldhill has described a free-market fantasy of health care. Market prices are based on power. In the United States today, hospitals and large doctor groups wield enormous market power, and they exercise it ruthlessly; consumers have none. Hospitals charge whatever the market will bear; uninsured patients pay the highest prices.

Large insurers bargain for “discounts” from prices set high enough so that hospitals still profit, and pass some of the “savings” on to large employers, who also have market power, but not to small businesses or individuals.

Whatever their faults, single-payer systems using government leverage, like the Canadians’ — or Medicare — deliver decent quality care to more people at lower cost. Mr. Goldhill makes the best the enemy of the good.

CAROLINE POPLIN
Bethesda, Md., Feb. 17, 2013

The writer is a primary care physician.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/opinion/how-can-we-make-health-care-work.html?_r=0

Court finds Circle C Construction, LLC, liable for falsifying certifications, but remands for further proceedings to determine damages

Whistleblower News

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a District Court ruling holding Circle C Construction, LLC, liable under the False Claims Act for submitting false payroll certifications, while remanding the case for further determinations about damages.  Circle C’s contract –for construction work at a Kentucky military installation –explicitly incorporated the certification requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. § 3142 wage and hour law specifying wage determinations for electrical workers.  Circle C, a contractor with 20 years of experience in government contracts, conceded its knowledge of various Davis-Bacon requirement and stated that one of its co-owners and its bookkeeper attended a training session at the Fort Campbell installation on the prevailing wage requirement for federal government contracts.  Despite its knowledge of these requirements, Circle C did not include the employees of its primary electrical work subcontractors, Phase Tech, on its original certifications, nor did it verify that these workers were paid prevailing wages.  All Phase Tech electrical workers and laborers were paid at least two dollars an hour less than prevailing wages.

The Sixth Circuit found that Circle C’s payroll certifications were expressly false because:

  • they stated that they were complete, when in fact no Phase Tech employees who worked on the project were listed, and
  • they falsely represented that the prevailing wages were paid to subcontracted employees.

The Sixth Circuit overturned the damages award because the estimation of cost to the government by the Supervisory Contract Specialist at the Directorate of Contracting at the Fort Campbell Army Post:

  • lacked specific detail,
  • included projects outside the scope of the amended complaint (in Tennessee instead of Kentucky),
  • did not adequately account for the discrepancies in the relevant sums presented by the parties, and
  • did not accurately represent the difference between what the government paid to Circle C, what Circle C paid to Phase Tech, and the payments to which Circle C would have been entitled in the absence of its fraud.

This reversal and remand for further proceedings on damages indicates that an activity by activity accounting, instead of a general estimated amount based on percentages, might be necessary to effectively calculate damages under the express certification theory.

Comprehensive Conference on Litigation Class Actions

Whistleblower News

December 6 & 7, 2012 | Chicago, IL

This conference is designed to provide a cutting-edge and in-depth exploration of this vibrant area of the law. Our faculty is comprised of leading class action practitioners, judges and service providers from across the United States who will discuss strategies from both plaintiffs’ and defendants’ perspectives. This two-day conference will include discussions of the latest developments in significant areas of the law affected by class action practice, including recent decisions concerning antitrust, arbitration rights, damages calculations, forum issues, securities and other financial transactions, consumer protection, contracts, false claims act/whistleblower claims, governmental investigations, labor and employment, and Internet privacy, to name just a few.

To Learn More visit Law Seminars International.

U.S. District Judge Rules that Whistleblower Protections Don’t Extend Overseas

Whistleblower News

U.S. Disctrict Judge Nancy Atlas ruled last week in Houston that whistleblower protections do not apply overseas.  Khaled Asadi filed suit claiming that General Electric retaliated against him after he voiced concern that the company had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Click here for the full article from the Wall Street Journal Corruption & Currents Blog.  http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2012/07/03/judge-says-anti-retaliation-provisions-dont-cover-foreign-whistleblowers/

Guttman and Buschner Represent Key Whistleblower in Justice Dept.’s $1.04 Billion Civil Settlement with GlaxoSmithKline

Reuben Guttman Articles, Traci Buschner Articles, Whistleblower News

Reuben Guttman led team on behalf of a former GlaxoSmithKline Therapeutic Sales Manager who alleged misrepresentation in promotion of company’s asthma/COPD drug Advair; firm’s third major whistleblower recovery in 2012, following Abbott Labs’ $1.6 billion settlement and banks’ $25 billion payment over ‘robo-signing’ mortgage fraud. 

BOSTON and WASHINGTON (July 2, 2012) — Reuben Guttman of Guttman, Buschner and Brooks PLLC has represented one of several key whistleblowers behind a $1.04 billion settlement announced today between drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and the U.S. Department of Justice stemming from alleged marketing abuses of various GSK medications. Lois Graydon, is a nursing professional and former GSK Therapeutic Sales Manager.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston led the investigation into promotional tactics behind a total of nine GSK drugs. An accompanying criminal component of the case is expected to substantially increase the sum of the recovery.

Reuben Guttman and Traci Buschner are counsel to Lois Graydon, a registered nurse. She is one of the “relators” who alleged that GSK made false and misleading statements about Advair’s safety and efficacy, thus enabling false or fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other reimbursement programs.

Advair’s share of the recovery – more than $700 million – amounts to over half of the total civil settlement of $1.04 billion.

“The False Claims Act plays an important role in health industry compliance enforcement; health care is an issue that touches everyone and oversight, diligence and transparency are critical,” said Mr. Guttman, one of the country’s leading whistleblower attorneys.

“It is important that the medical community pays attention to this settlement and others and asks critical questions about the scientific support for the use of prescription drugs,” he added.

“In this election year, the safety of pharmaceuticals and their cost to the health care system should be front and center,” Mr. Guttman said.

He added, “Whistleblowers play an important role in compliance enforcement of our laws. We were proud to have represented one of the whistleblowers on this important case under the False Claims Act.”

 

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