The U.S. Department of Justice says it has reached a whistleblower settlement with Liberty Ambulance, resolving allegations of ambulance billing fraud.

The news release indicated that the purported ambulance billing fraud started in the summer of 2005 and continued to occur until the mid-winter of 2016. Liberty Ambulance came to an agreement with the DOJ to pay out $1.2 million dollars to resolve claims against them outside of court.

While no actual liability has been proven in a court of law, Liberty Ambulance was accused of engaging in ambulance billing fraud involving upgrading the nature of services provided in numerous situations from basic to advanced life support.

According to the DOJ, this upgrade was allegedly done through insurance coding and was supposedly not justifiable in most cases. Additionally, Liberty Ambulance stood accused of using ambulances to transport patients to health care facilities and their homes under non-emergency conditions.

The ambulance billing fraud settlement came on the heels of an investigation lasting several years that started after the 2015 whistleblower lawsuit was filed. The relator—Shawn P., a former employee of Liberty Ambulance—initiated the action on behalf of the federal government under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act (FCA).

Under the FCA, which aims to protect public health and other governmental programs against fraudulent claims perpetrated by contracting individuals and companies, the qui tam provision rewards individuals who take a risk and report fraudulent activity on behalf of the government by giving them a portion of the funds recovered. In this ambulance billing fraud case, Shawn’s award will be about $264,000.

In other actions, Shawn brought four separate whistleblower lawsuits against nine Jacksonville, Fla. hospitals—some of which were owned and managed collectively–and against Century Ambulance for alleged ambulance billing fraud.

The allegations were similar to what they were with this most recent case. The lawsuits were settled in 2015 for $7.5 million, and Shawn received $1.2 million in proceeds.

The most recent settlement involved false claims presented to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and so the investigation involved among other entities the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The ambulance billing fraud also purportedly involved fraud perpetrated against Medicare, Tricare, and Medicaid.

Other contributing agencies to the investigation which resulted in the settlement recovery of funds are the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—Office of Inspector General and Office of Counsel to the Inspector General—Office of Audit Services, Office of Personnel Management, Defense Health Agency Program Integrity Office, and the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

The press release regarding the settlement, which was reached in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, was a testament to efforts what ordinary citizens can do in combination with the efforts of their government to protect vital public programs from abuse.

If you have or know someone who has witnessed fraudulent activity aimed at governmental health programs, you may be in a position to bring a whistleblower lawsuit. A consultation with a whistleblower attorney can apprise you of your legal options.