In deciding to report fraud against the government, whistleblowers may think they are doing the right thing by using the Medicaid fraud hotline provided by the government to report violations of the False Claims Act.

However, calling the hotline may not be enough to hold the responsible party accountable for their fraudulent actions and protect the whistleblower from retaliation.

Take for instance the story of a former employee of a Missouri dental clinic who discovered that her company was overcharging Medicaid through a suspended dentist. The employee reported this information to the national Medicaid fraud hotline over three years ago.

Her former employer retaliated against her, and she ended up losing her job for reporting the Medicaid fraud. Upon hearing that the clinic was recently shut down by the state, she contacted an attorney to see what she was eligible to receive as a whistleblower.

If a whistleblower calls the Medicaid fraud hotline, they will only claim up to $1,000, whistleblower attorney Brian Mahany told Top Class Actions.

According to the False Claims Act, the only way to be compensated for whistleblower retaliation is to file a False Claims Act lawsuit, where the whistleblower must be represented by an attorney.

Sadly, when the former employee contacted Mahany, she was told that even though she had a legitimate whistleblower retaliation claim, he could not help her since she called the Medicaid fraud tip line.

Mahany told Top Class Actions that unfortunately this occurrence is all too common. He explained that good people think they are doing the right thing by reporting fraud against the government by using the government established hotlines and are led to believe that they will be compensated for their actions and putting themselves at risk.

“If I get them early enough in the process, I can still help them even if they reported through a hotline,” Mahany said.

“I hate to hear stories of people who tried to the right thing but didn’t. This poor woman had both a perfectly good retaliation claim and award claim but was never told about her rights,” he added. “Now we can’t help her. That is the problem with the Medicare and Medicaid hotlines.”

Filing a False Claims Act Lawsuit

Filing a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claims Act is complex, and there are many substantive and procedural provisions in the law that can adversely impact the success of a whistleblower lawsuit.

For example, the False Claims Act provides that only the first whistleblower who files a lawsuit raising the defendant’s fraud can continue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery that might result.

As a result of these and other complex provisions of the False Claims Act, it is critical that whistleblowers seek the assistance of experienced whistleblower attorney who can help ensure their claim is litigated properly and in a manner that ensures that their rights are protected.

Whistleblower’s Potential Reward

As a reward for reporting fraud, the whistleblower is typically awarded 15 percent to 30 percent of any recovery that the government receives under the False Claims Act.

Since most Medicaid and Medicare fraud cases result in millions recovered by the government, the amount a whistleblowers will get paid is a lot more than the $1,000 they might get for calling a hotline.

In 2012, former Attorney General Eric Holder reported that the Justice Department recovered $452 million in Medicare fraud alone. Whistleblowers who filed a False Claims Act lawsuit to help the government recover that money received a significant share of that money. In addition, they also benefited from whistleblower protections to ensure that their employer didn’t retaliated against them.

Statute of Limitations

Potential whistleblowers should carefully consider that the False Claims Act contains a statute of limitations which may be as short as six years. Statutes of limitations are important in all cases because they can impact whether claims can be brought under the False Claims Act.

If you believe you have witnessed fraud committed against the government, contact a whistleblower attorney today.