Tag:

materiality

Escobar’s Materiality Standard Shields Organizations from the Risk in Risk Adjustment Payments

Finance Director for UnitedHealth Group brought qui tam suit against UnitedHealth Group, Inc. alleging that the organization upcoded risk adjustment data resulting in increased payments (more than $1.14 billion) to UnitedHealth Group. The Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in the case, yet UnitedHealth Group was successful in getting the primary False Claims Act Claims dismissed by arguing that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would not have refused to make the adjustment payments had they known of the errors in the risk adjustment. The Escobar materiality standard helps clarify threshold level of risk to Managed Care Providers in attesting to their risk adjustment payments; the falsities must have had an impact on the respective payment.

Supreme Court Weighs in on Implied False Certification Theory

Ryan Meade Editor-in-Chief Director of Regulatory Compliance Studies at Loyola University Chicago School of Law   The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in  Universal Health Services, Inc. v. U.S. ex rel Escobar (“UHS”) has had some strange initial summaries suggesting this is a gloom and doom opinion for actors who submit claims to the United States.  I …
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