The Department of Justice announced that it obtained more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021. This is the largest annual total in False Claims Act history, and the largest since 2014. The DOJ’s Fraud Statistics Overview can be found HERE.
Once again, the leading source of the DOJ’s FCA settlements and judgments was attributable to matters involving the health care industry – over $5 billion of the $5.6 billion total. These health care industry matters included drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories and physicians.
The largest FCA settlements in the past year resulted from significant resolutions with prescription and opioid manufacturers.