The DOJ recoveries under the False Claims Act (FCA) fell last year to their lowest levels since 2008, according to a recent report. 2022 recoveries were approximately $2.2 billion, less than half of the previous year’s recoveries of around $5.7 billion. Healthcare continues to attract the most attention from the DOJ and the whistleblower provisions with nearly 80% of the FY 2022 recoveries derived from the healthcare industry.
The health law group at Alston & Bird expects the DOJ’s FCA enforcement will be focused on nursing homes, senior care providers, pandemic-related fraud, and private equity-owned healthcare companies.
According to a report from Alston & Bird’s Government Investigations and Healthcare Litigation practice groups, “Private equity (PE) firms will likely continue to face investigations for their portfolio companies’ conduct.” Nearly three years ago, the DOJ made it known that PE firms, particularly those invested in the health care and life science space, could face liability simply for not paying attention to their portfolio companies’ potential FCA violations. In addition, several U.S. Attorney’s Offices have also made PE firms one of their top enforcement priorities.
