U.S.Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit:Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Federal agencies recovered morethan $2.6 billion in health care fraud and abuse judgments,settlements and other fees in 2017, according to a new governmentreport.

The funds were recovered fromprevention and enforcement actions against individuals andorganizations engaged in alleged fraud against Medicare and Medicaid and othergovernment programs.

The U.S. Justice Department andU.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted providerswho, among other offenses, operated pill mills out of medicaloffices and filed false claims for ambulance services andfor physical and occupational therapy. In other cases, drugcompanies were charged with paying kickbacks tomedical providers and to pharmacies, and pharmacies were chargedfor soliciting and accepting kickbacks.

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The figure represented a decreasefrom the $3.3 billion in judgments, settlements  andimpositions the government said it had recovered infiscalyear 2016, but more than the $2.5 billion recovered in FY2015. HHS officials saidthere was a reduction in large monetary settlements from last yearbecause many of the “large pharmaceutical manufacturers haveentered into corporate integrity agreements with the HHS office ofthe inspector general to establish protections against fraudulentactivities.”

According to the report for 2017,the Justice Department opened 967 new criminal health care fraudinvestigations in which federal prosecutors filed criminal chargesin 439 cases with 720 defendants, A total of 639 defendants wereconvicted of health care fraud-related crimes in fiscal year 2017,according to the report.

The DOJ and HHS joint MedicareFraud Strike Force filed 253 indictments and charges against 478defendants, who allegedly billed federal health care programs morethan $2.3 billion. The strike force obtained more than 290 guiltypleas, litigated 33 jury trials and won guilty verdicts against 40defendants, and secured prison sentences for more than 300defendants, with an average sentence of 50 months, according to theHHS news release about the annual report. The Justice Departmentalso opened 948 new civil enforcement cases last year.

“Too many trusted medicalprofessionals like doctors, nurses and pharmacists have chosen toviolate their oaths and exploit this generosity to line theirpockets, sometimes for millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions said in a statement. “At the Department of Justice,we have taken historic new actions to incarcerate these criminalsand recover stolen funds, including executing the largesthealthcare fraud enforcement action in Americanhistory.”

Federal enforcers in July 2017executed the single largest health care fraud enforcement operationin history, as reported last September in CorporateCounsel. Prosecutorscharged 412 defendants, including 115 doctors, nurses and othermedical professionals, across the U.S., for allegedly participatingin health care fraud schemes involving more than $1.3 billion infalse billings. More than 120 defendants were indicted for theiralleged roles in prescribing and distributing opioid medicationsand other narcotics.

Some observers said at the timethat the enforcement action indicated a shift of departmentpriorities during the Trump administration toward illicit opioiddistribution prosecution and away from white-collar fraud. Sessionsannounced the formation of the Opioid Fraud and Abuse DetectionUnit in August.