The federal False Claims Act (FCA)1 is a powerful tool in the fight against fraud involving federal health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Indeed, one of the greatest areas of FCA success is in the health-care industry. From 1987 to 2015, the federal government recovered more than $31.1 billion in health-care-related FCA actions.2
One significant reason for the recoveries are the lawsuits brought under the FCA by whistleblowers, often current or former employees of corporate defendants. Of the $48 billion recovered by the federal government under the FCA from 1987 to 2015 (including health-care-related recoveries), over $33 billion resulted from whistleblower-initiated litigation, also known as “qui tam” lawsuits.3
