Washington, DC – The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) today expressed disappointment that the House Judiciary Committee will consider The False Claims Correction Act of 2007 (H.R. 4854), which would virtually rewrite the False Claims Act and dramatically expand the scope of liability under the statute, increase financial penalties, and remove safeguards against unfounded lawsuits.
“The False Claims Correction Act of 2007 is unnecessary and will impose enormous burdens on the long term care industry,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “Retroactively expanding the universe of claims, many of which would not involve truly false claims nor involve any loss to the federal treasury, will unnecessarily complicate management of government programs.”
Yarwood also stated that under the proposed new law, skilled nursing facilities or nursing facilities that receive deficiencies on state and/or federal surveys may be considered to have “mistakenly” received federal funds and would be subject to claims filed under the FCA. The Act would also:
- Create a new breed of class-action lawsuit by allowing private citizens to sue for alleged harm to anyone who receives federal dollars;
- Allow whistleblowers to file Federal Claims Act (FCA) lawsuits based on public information, virtually eliminating the “public disclosure” bar;
- Entitle the Department of Justice to recover damages even where the government has not suffered a loss; and
- Apply retroactively, creating serious due process concerns.
AHCA/NCAL recently co-signed a letter sent by over 20 national organizations to Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX), which stated: “The existing False Claims Act already contains powerful mechanisms to achieve the government’s goals. Even the Department of Justice has expressed the opinion that the FCA works well and is not in need of change.”
“The bill abandons the twin goals that the FCA has always sought to balance – encouraging prompt whistleblowing while discouraging opportunistic claims,” added Yarwood. “We firmly believe this legislation and other efforts to dramatically alter the FCA are bad public policy and a step in the wrong direction.”
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.