On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act expanding protections for whistleblowers exposing fraud in federal contracting. The FERA was originally designed to combat mortgage fraud, but also expands the whistleblower protections afforded by the False Claims Act. Among other provisions, the FERA no longer allows companies to use subcontractors to avoid liability under anti-fraud laws and extends whistleblower protection to contractors, subcontractors, and agents reporting fraud. Importantly, the FERA eliminates the requirement for “specific intent” to defraud the government, and instead clarifies that a person is liable under the False Claims Act when he or she knowingly makes a false claim to obtain money or property, any part of which is provided by the government.
Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the formation of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) as a collaboration between federal agencies, such as HHS and the Department of Justice, to fight Medicare fraud. The HEAT team will focus on prevention and training for providers on how to identify and avoid fraud. Read the press release on HEAT.