My Employer Is Committing Healthcare Fraud: Am I Protected?

Whistleblower protection laws can help safeguard your rights and your employment when an employer is engaging in healthcare fraud. Owners and top-level employees of medical facilities often rely on subordinates to carry out fraudulent schemes. That is part of why Congress created the False Claims Act (FCA) to protect those who discover and report these ploys.

As long as the whistleblower did not create the fraudulent scheme, the FCA affords protections and incentivizes employees to report fraud. The FCA allows whistleblowers to receive a percentage of any recovery. The whistleblower protection laws also prevent workplace retaliation and compensate penalized employees for lost income, demotions, and other negative impacts.

It can be distressing to discover that your workplace is defrauding Medicare or other government programs. You may fear losing your job for questioning unethical practices or may distrust your findings despite the evidence. Understanding the signs of healthcare fraud versus innocent mistakes can help you identify unscrupulous acts. Our Medicare fraud law firm frequently sees these schemes targeting government programs at clinics, hospitals, and care facilities:

• Double billing and up-coding services
• Billing for services that are not medically necessary
• Billing for services not provided
• Kickbacks from controversial referrals

A whistleblower offering evidence of these fraudulent acts may be eligible for protection under state and federal laws.

Whistleblowers are critical to maintaining quality in healthcare systems and protecting funding from abuse. Still, reporting Medicare fraud can seem daunting without a clear path forward. When you uncover healthcare fraud at your workplace, you have four options:

1. Stay Silent: Doing so can implicate yourself in the activity and negatively impact your workplace or patient care.
2. File an Internal Report: This can result in a hostile work environment among other negative consequences.
3. Alert the Government: If the government files a lawsuit before you do, you’ll forfeit your right to a reward. 
4. Speak to a Medicare Fraud Law Firm: An experienced whistleblower lawyer will know how to report the fraud under the False Claims Act and protect your rights and interests.

Reporting Medicare fraud to a law firm is your best path to recovery. Whistleblower protection laws only help you if you speak up, and reporting the scheme to the government first can jeopardize your percentage of the recovery.

If you suspect your employer is committing fraud, contact Miller Law Group for a free consultation. Our experienced attorneys understand whistleblower protection laws and reporting procedures to help maximize your recovery.