Whistleblower Lawyer Blog

We have been writing about why states are passing their own whistleblower laws, with qui tam provisions that are at least as effective as the federal False Claims Act. Georgia's legislature took a giant step forward when its House of Representatives today passed the State False Medicaid Claims Act--by an overwhelming margin of 164-2!

As we have mentioned before on this whistleblower lawyer blog, when the House Judiciary Committee met to discuss and approve the new whistleblower statute, two witnesses were invited to explain the new law: the Inspector General of the Department of Community Health, and this whistleblower blog author. We at Finch McCranie, LLP are proud to be part of this effort to protect taxpayer dollars in the Medicaid program.

States are figuring out how to pass whistleblower laws with effective "qui tam" provisions, so that they qualify to receive more money from Medicaid fraud settlements. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that, unlike 7 of the 10 state whistleblower laws that OIG had previously reviewed, the whistleblower laws of Hawaii and Virginia pass muster under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

We have previously discussed why states are passing or improving their own whistleblower laws with qui tam provisions--Congress creative large financial incentives because effective qui tam whistleblower laws are essential to preventing fraud against the government. We applaud Hawaii and Virginia for making their whistleblower law provisions as effective as those of the federal False Claims Act!

Whistleblowers and whistleblower attorneys may consider Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa as the "patron saint" of protecting taxpayer money from fraud against the government. Sen. Grassley continues his great work as he testifies today before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Iraq contractor profiteering and fraud.

The Senator already claimed another recent victory by spearheading passage of the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program. Sen. Grassley saw how cost-effective the False Claims Act has been in recovering more than $20 billion for the government--largely because of the improved qui tam whistleblower enhancements enacted in 1986. (Sen. Grassley and Rep. Howard Berman were sponsors of the landmark 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act.)

Sen. Grassley was to testify that the False Claims Act whistleblower statute should be strengthened to deal with contractors such as Halliburton. He mentioned trying to recover $60 billion for meals not provided to the military by the defense contractor.

We find it refreshing to see someone like Sen. Grassley who is a true public servant--again and again. Congress and the American people should follow his lead in recognizing the value of effective whistleblower programs that encourage whistleblowers to report fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Otherwise, crime does pay for those who cheat the government--and thus other taxpayers.

This afternoon I had the privilege of joining the Inspector General of Georgia's Department of Community Health, Doug Colburn, in serving as the two invited witnesses who were asked to explain how the new "State False Medicaid Claims Act" would work, in testimony before the full Judiciary Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives.

The new whistleblower law was approved unanimously by the Judiciary Committee, and is gaining steam toward passage.

Chairman Wendell Willard expressed his strong support for encouraging whistleblowers to report wrongdoing. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Edward Lindsey, thanked the cooperative efforts by the Georgia Department of Community Health, the Office of Attorney General, and the private bar to fashion what is a "very good bill."

A representative of the Medical Association of Georgia also testified that it supports the bill as passed by the Committee, after one change was made to make the statute of limitations consistent with the federal False Claims Act.

We have written before about this proposed new whistleblower law, one of many that various states are now considering to qualify for the financial incentives created by Congress in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. States that have or enact False Claims Acts with qui tam whistleblower provisions that are at least as effective as the federal False Claims Act are entitled to receive a 10% increase in their share of Medicaid fraud recoveries.

Our firm, Finch McCranie, LLP, is proud to contribute its experience to assist the legislature in enacting a very good "State False Medicaid Claims Act."

The new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program that we have been discussing is featured in the March 13 issue of Smart Money Magazine--and Smart Money cites our Whistleblower blog and quotes one of our authors.

The Smart Money reporter, Lisa Scherzer, contacted our firm, Finch McCranie, LLP, to discuss the IRS Whistleblower Rewards program and our experiences in representing clients in the IRS Whistleblower program. We commented that most potential whistleblowers who have contacted us are ethical, conscientious persons who are troubled by improper practices at their firms. They usually have tried unsuccessfully to correct the improprieties internally, and have found that the wrongdoers are unwilling to listen.

In fact, many whistleblower clients have begun to experience repercussions for trying to do the right thing, before they ever contact a whistleblower lawyer.

Fortunately, Smart Money got it right in describing why whistleblowers typically come forward!

We were excited to see that the U.S. House of Representatives today passed an important new whistleblower protection law, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.

We have discussed this new whistleblower bill previously, as an encouraging development for whistleblowers and whistleblower lawyers. The new whistleblower law would protect federal employees and, now, also federal contractors, who report evidence of fraud, waste, abuse, gross mismanagement, or "substantial and specific danger to public health or safety."

Rep. Henry Waxman sponsored the new whistleblower protection bill, but Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa also spoke eloquently today about why American taxpayers--and the American public's security--demand that honest citizens must be able to bring to light evidence of fraud, waste, and abuse that affects government dollars (which are taxpayer dollars).

Home with a bug today, I was able to watch the debate on C-Span. The bill passed the House by a vote of 331-94, with 8 members not voting. Let's hope the Senate also acts responsibly by approving the bill.

Rep. Braley was inspiring in his remarks about the courage and contributions of important whistleblowers such as former FBI Agent Colleen M. Rowley, whose comments in speaking out after 9/11 are worth remembering and repeating below:

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Continue reading "New "Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act" Passes U.S. House" »

Whistleblowerlawyerblog Author Testifies In Support of Georgia Department of Community Health's "State False Medicaid Claims Act"

This morning, a new state False Claims Act cleared a hurdle as it was approved by a Georgia legislative subcommittee.

Georgia's new "State False Medicaid Claims Act," which has qui tam whistleblower provisions similar to the federal False Claims Act, received unanimous support among members of the subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Edward Lindsey of Atlanta.

Testifying in support of the new False Medicaid Claims Act were Inspector General Doug Colburn of the Georgia Department of Community Health, and Mary Beth Westmoreland of the Georgia Attorney General's Office.

Also testifying in support of the law was Michael A. Sullivan of Finch McCranie, LLP (one of the authors of this whistleblowerlawyerblog). Sullivan was asked to address how the federal False Claims Act has worked in practice since he began working with the statute in the late 1980s, and how the states have seized the opportunity to create their own whistleblower laws, similar to the False Claims Act. He discussed the great successes of the federal statute as the government's "primary weapon" for combatting fraud. Sullivan also provided the legislators a version of his article explaining how the False Claims Act works, which also appears on this whistleblower lawer blog.

Georgia, like the many other states now considering a False Claims Act, stands to increase its share of Medicaid fraud recoveries substantially if it enacts a bill that passes muster with the Office of Inspector General of HHS.

We were very pleased to be a part of the process of assisting legislators in protecting taxpayer funds. We will be there as the new whistleblower law progresses through the legislative process.

We found a very interesting article from last week's Legal Times, with an excerpt of interest to whistleblower lawyers as follows:

"Last fall, the Justice Department launched a National Procurement Fraud Task Force to focus "resources at all levels of government to increase criminal enforcement" in areas of procurement fraud. The stepped-up attention to this area throughout the government may signal that the $3.1 billion record in federal fraud recoveries in 2006 could soon be broken. More than 50 inspectors general from across all government departments and agencies also are actively pursuing thousands of investigations."

"In addition, powerful newly installed Democratic committee and subcommittee chairs in Congress are launching dozens of oversight investigations of alleged government and contractor abuses, focusing on the reconstruction effort in Iraq and in the U.S. Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, numerous areas of military and homeland-security procurement, the pricing of pharmaceuticals and other significant areas of federal contracting. For instance, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in the first week of February began one set of hearings on alleged waste, fraud and abuse by government contractors in Iraq and another set of hearings on alleged overcharging by drug companies in federal health programs."