Report Highlights False Claims Act Benefit

January 18, 2019

Author: Robert M. Thomas, Jr.,

A report issued today by Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (TAFEF) highlights the dramatic benefit of the False Claims Act for the government and taxpayers.  The Report shows that for every $1 the government spends on health care fraud law enforcement, $20 is recovered. Over the last several years, the public private partnership under the False Claims Act qui tam provision has fueled rising numbers of health care fraud cases and record levels of recoveries in civil damages and civil and criminal penalties and forfeitures that makes this return on investment possible.

The report was based on an analysis of data for the five-year period FY 2008–FY 2012.  It concluded that the federal government is receives a return of over double that identified in its earlier report. However, even this ROI dramatically underestimates the real return on outlays for False Claims Act law enforcement in the health care arena. This is because the report did not include massive criminal fines and state Medicaid recoveries.

While it is difficult to quantify federal and state costs associated with recovering these federal criminal and state civil dollars, we are confident that if all costs and benefits are accounted for, the benefit to cost ratio of False Claims Act law enforcement now exceeds 20:1.

The importance of the False Claims Act, the increased efforts by the government, and the contribution of whistleblowers, was promoted today in a statement by Senator Grassley, one or the sponsors of the 1986 amendments to the FCA that paved the way for increased enforcement.  The report is worth a close read by anyone interested in the fight against fraud and the role whistleblowers are playing.