Included in the eBook:

• Health Care Fraud Enforcement in 2024
• False Claims Act Enforcement: Looking Back and What to Expect in 2024
• SEC to Continue Aggressive Enforcement Efforts in 2024 After Record-Setting 2023
• Reflecting on Higher Education Compliance and Investigations Trends in 2023 and Looking Ahead to 2024
• Anticorruption Enforcement and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Trends to Track 
in 2024
• Enforcement of U.S. Trade Sanctions and Export Controls in 2023 and What to Expect 
in 2024
• Congressional Investigations: A Review of Investigations Likely to Continue in 2024 
and Into the 119th Congress
• Massachusetts' New Attorney General - a Look Back and a Look at the Year Ahead
• Tennessee v. BlackRock: How This Case Informs How We Look Back and Look Ahead 
at ESG
• Criminal Tax Enforcement - What to Look for in 2024

Excerpt

The government had another busy year in 2023, investigating and prosecuting healthcare fraud cases on multiple fronts. Contending with the enormous healthcare crises of the now-concluded COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing opioid epidemic, the government has deployed considerable resources to combat allegedly fraudulent schemes that have resulted in financial loss to the government and individual harm. Meanwhile, new technology has shifted the enforcement landscape, with the government targeting telemedicine fraud and relying ever-increasingly on data analytics to identify suspected outliers associated with potential fraud.

But the government’s most powerful tool for combating health care fraud remains, as always, the False Claims Act (FCA). In 2023, we saw an unprecedented number of investigations and settlements, as well as significant case law developments. We expect to see similar priorities and enforcement levels as we examine healthcare fraud enforcement in 2024.

Covid-19 Pandemic Fraud

Though some years have passed since the height of COVID-19, the government has not slowed down in bringing enforcement actions related to the pandemic. In fact, at the recent Federal Bar Association’s Qui Tam Conference on February 22, 2024, Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton stated that COVID-19 fraud has been, and will continue to be, an FCA enforcement priority this year. In particular, Boynton stated that the key focus will be on fraud involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided loans to eligible small businesses for payroll, rent, utility payments, and other business-related costs. Corroborating these remarks, DOJ recently announced in a press release on February 22, 2024, that, among its record-breaking number of FCA settlements and judgments in 2023, DOJ has resolved approximately 270 FCA matters involving the PPP loans, amounting to nearly $48.3 million of recovery to the government. Many of these cases involved small businesses and individuals who used PPP loans in unauthorized ways, such as purchasing luxury items and sports cars.

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