The United States Department of Justice has announced that it has recovered $2.8 Billion from False Claims Act (FCA) cases during fiscal year 2018 (the 12 months ending on September 30, 2018). The DOJ’s overall recovery in fiscal 2018 remained substantial; however, it marks a decline from the DOJ’s recoveries in fiscal year 2016 ($4.7 Billion) and fiscal year 2017 ($3.7 Billion).
The substantial majority of the DOJ’s recoveries came from the healthcare industry. In fiscal 2018, almost 90% ($2.5 Billion) of the DOJ’s recoveries came from the healthcare industry (including hospitals, physicians, laboratories, drug companies, and pharmacies). The DOJ has now recovered more than $2 Billion from the healthcare industry in each of the past 9 years.
Whistleblowers continued to play a role in a substantial number of the cases that led to the DOJ’s recoveries. There were 645 claims filed by whistleblowers in fiscal 2018. The Government recovered approximately $2.1 Billion from these cases, as well as from cases that were filed by whistleblowers in prior years.