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White Collar + Fraud + Investigations + Compliance
Today, the DOJ announced a settlement with Philips RS North America LLC, formerly known as Respironics Inc., related to allegations of that it paid illegal kickbacks to durable medical equipment (“DME”) suppliers. Notably, the DOJ alleges that Respironics Inc. (“Respironics”) gave DME suppliers data related to prescribing physicians to assist the suppliers in marketing to physicians. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) prohibits a person or entity from knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce or reward the purchase of any item that may be reimbursed under the federal healthcare programs. Here, DOJ alleges that Respironics caused certain DME suppliers to submit false claims for medical equipment that were false because of its inducements to the DME suppliers in the form of free data.
This settlement is particularly interesting because it demonstrates the value of customer data. Companies regularly collect data related to customer behavior. In the healthcare industry, companies, particularly those that provide products that are billed to the federal healthcare programs, should be thoughtful about how they use that data.
A link to the related press release is below.
Partner|Denise Barnes is a former U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Trial Attorney who focuses her practice on compliance, white collar and regulatory investigations, and complex commercial litigation. She represents clients in ...