ALLEGED KICKBACKS AND IMPROPER BILLING

A Whistleblower Partners attorney represented a whistleblower in a qui tam action under the False Claims Act against Sharp HealthCare, a regional hospital system in San Diego. The whistleblower alleged that Sharp’s clinical-trial research arm violated the “secondary payer” rules that prohibit billing the government when other payers will pay for a patient’s care. The client further alleged that Sharp used kickbacks to encourage sponsors to host clinical trials at Sharp. Sharp settled the whistleblower’s case for an undisclosed amount.