Proposed Health Care Fraud Enforcement Act of 2009

Proposed Health Care Fraud Enforcement Act of 2009

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced and supported the Health Care Fraud Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill designed to enhance the government's tools to combat healthcare fraud.  The bill's proposals include:

• Statutorily solidifies that violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute will constitute a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. 
• Clarifies that the "willfully" intent element for violations of the Health Care Fraud Statute will not require proof that the defendant had actual knowledge of the law in question or specific intent to violate the law. 
• Exands the definition of "federal health care fraud offense" to include Anti-Kickback Statute violations and violations of specific sections of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 
• Increases the offensive level under the Sentencing Guidelines for many healthcare fraud offenses by increasing the offense level for certain healthcare fraud offenses that reach a certain monetary leveel and "clarify" the definition of intended loss to include the aggregate amount of all claims submitted. 
• Provides the Department of Justice with new administrative subpoena authority in order to investigate violations of the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persoms Act (CRIPA) and an additional $20 million a year in fiscal years 2011-2016 to increase the number of healthcare fraud investigators and prosecutors.