As many pundits speculate regarding the future of the Yates Memo[1] in a Trump administration, on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, Department of Justice ("DOJ") Deputy Attorney General, Sally Q. Yates, provided her first comments since the election. The namesake of the well-known, "Yates Memo," Yates spoke at the 33rd Annual International Conference on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Washington, D.C. and provided her perspective on the future of DOJ's current focus on individual misconduct.
Yates, who has served at the DOJ for over twenty-seven years, stated that while the DOJ has endured many transitions in leadership during her tenure, the ideology of the DOJ with respect to general deterrence as well as enforcement of corporate misconduct has remained unchanged. Thus, Yates predicted that the incoming administration under President-elect Donald Trump will maintain the DOJ's current commitment to pursing potential individuals while combating alleged cases of corporate fraud and wrongdoing, proclaiming:
In 51 days, a new team will be running the department, and it will be up to them to decide whether they want to continue the policies that we've implemented in recent years. But I'm optimistic. Holding individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing isn't ideological; it's good law enforcement.[2]
Given the length of time that white collar investigations typically take, Yates noted there are a significant number of corporate investigations that began after the issuance of the Yates Memo in September 2015 that will not resolve until well after the new administration takes control. Yates also stated that she expects that the cases already in the pipeline will continue being pursued, and as a result, she anticipates that "higher percentage of those cases [will be] accompanied by criminal or civil actions against the responsible individuals."[3]
In recent years, the Department of Justice has accelerated its emphasis on the investigation and prosecution of healthcare-related cases.[4] In the civil realm, since release of the Yates Memo in September 2015, there has been a significant increase in False Claims Act[5] settlements containing cooperation provisions.[6] In the criminal side of the house, since the release of the Yates Memo, DOJ has brought high-profile indictments alleging violations of federal law including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violations of the anti-kickback statute, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft, and involving a variety of health care-related services such as home health care, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment, and compounding prescription drugs schemes. Most recently, on December 1, 2016, an indictment was unsealed in the Northern District of Texas charging 21 people, including the founders and investors of the physician-owned Forest Park Medical Center ("FPMC") in Dallas, other executives at the hospital, and physicians, surgeons, and others affiliated with the hospital,[7] with allegedly participating in a $200 million bribery and kick-back scheme focused on inducing surgeons to use the FPMC facilities.
Even before the Yates memorandum explicitly set forth guidance regarding parallel investigations, over the past few years DOJ already was increasing coordination between civil and criminal attorneys running parallel health care-related investigations with the goal of establishing collaboration at the very inception of an investigation. One U.S. Attorney's Office, the District of New Jersey, even has co-located criminal and civil assistants dedicated to investigating health care fraud, who are supervised by the same AUSA to facilitate civil and criminal investigations, increase coordination and "maximize appropriate deterrence."[8]
Notably, in June 2016, DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a nationwide sweep of health care fraud civil and criminal cases. Billed as the largest health care-related take-down in history, and led by DOJ's Medicare Fraud Strike Force[9] in 36 federal districts, the takedown resulted in criminal and civil charges being filed against 301 individuals, including 61 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $900 million in false billings.[10] [11]
Based on Yates's comments on November 30, 2016, it can be anticipated that there will be a continued effort by the DOJ to combat corporate misconduct by focusing on individual accountability for alleged wrongdoers. Therefore, health care companies will need to remain diligent in maintaining sufficient compliance and corporate policies, including providing adequate training for executives and employees on the Yates Memorandum, as well as conducting thorough internal investigations, and to identify potential instances of corporate misconduct.[12] Since a centerpiece of the Yates Memo is the disclosure of individual wrongdoing in order to receive credit for cooperating with an investigation, health care-related companies must develop ways to identify individuals involved in potential fraudulent schemes, and the extent of each individual's potential involvement in wrongdoing, to ensure they receive credit for cooperation. As Yates's concluded on November 30th, "In the days ahead, this institution – and those who lead it – will continue the hard work of rooting out corruption here and abroad. And we will remain determined to protecting and strengthening our values of justice, fairness, and the rule of law. That has always been, and will always be, at the core of the DOJ."[13] Thus, there is no indication of a DOJ slow-down any time soon, and based on recent high-profile DOJ enforcement efforts, the health care industry will not be excluded from DOJ's focus on individual accountability any time soon either.
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[1] Sally Quillian Yates, Deputy Attorney Gen., DOJ, "Individual Accountability for Corporate Wrongdoing," ("Yates Memo"), (Sept. 9, 2015) The Yates Memo, released by the DOJ in September 2015, sets forth six specific steps for DOJ attorneys to focus on while assessing potential corporate wrongdoing: (1) in order to quality for any cooperation credit, corporations must provide to the Department all relevant facts relating to the individuals responsible for the misconduct; (2) criminal and civil corporate investigations should focus on individuals from the inception of the investigation; (3) criminal and civil attorneys handling corporate investigations should be in routine communication with one another; (4) absent extraordinary circumstances or approved departmental policy, the Department will not release culpable individuals from civil or criminal liability when resolving a matter with a corporation; (5) DOJ attorneys should not resolve matters with a corporation without a clear plan to resolve related individual cases, and should memorialize any declinations as to individuals in such cases; and (6) civil attorneys should consistently focus on individuals as well as the company and evaluate whether to bring suit against an individual based on considerations beyond that individual's ability to pay.
[2] Sally Quillian Yates, Deputy Attorney Gen., DOJ, Remarks at the 33rd Annual Int'l Conference on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Nov. 30, 2016).
[3] Id.
[4] DOJ, Facts and Statistics¸ (June 9, 2015), https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/facts-statistics.
[5] The False Claims Act, 21 U.S.C. § 3729(2)(B).
[6] Eric Toper, "DOJ Increasingly Demanding Corporate Cooperation in FCA Settlements After Yates Memo," Bloomberg BNA, (May 25, 2016), https://www.bna.com/doj-increasingly-demanding-n57982072932/.
[7] Shelby Livingston, "Execs, Physicians at Doc-Owned Luxury Hospital Chain Indicted in Alleged Kickback Scheme," Modern Healthcare (Dec. 6, 2016), http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20161206/NEWS/161209950/execs-physicians-at-doc-owned-luxury-hospital-chain-indicted-in. See https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/executives-surgeons-physicians-and-others-affiliated-forest-park-medical-center-fpmc (press release and indictment).
[8] Gabriel Imperator, Combating Healthcare Fraud in New Jersey: An Interview with Paul J. Fishman, Compliance Today 16-22 (Oct. 2015).
[9] DOJ, June 2016 Takedown, (June 22, 2016), https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit/june-2016-takedown (The Medicare Fraud Strike Force are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team ("HEAT"), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the DOJ and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007 it has charged over 2,900 defendants who have falsely billed the Medicare program over $8.9 billion).
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] For more information please view: EBG's Individual Accountability in Health Care Fraud Enforcement: Thought Leaders in Health Law.
[13] Yates, supra note 2.
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