Largest Recovery in the History of California’s False Claims Act
5-19-11 – California Attorney Genera, Kamala D. Harris, announced a $241 million settlement with Quest Diagnostics, which is the state’s largest medical lab test provider. The settlement, which represents the largest recovery in the history of California’s False Claims Act, results from a 2005 whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Quest Diagnostics fraudulently overcharged the state’s Medi-Cal program for over 15 years and gave illegal kickbacks in the form of discounted or free testing to doctors, hospitals and clinics that referred Medi-Cal patients. Medi-Cal is the Medicaid program in the State of California. $171 million, from the settlement, will go to the state – a number that will encourage many states to be receptive to FCA lawsuits.
Read more: http://salem-news.com/articles/may192011/quest-diagnostics.php