$55 million recovery for Medicare fraud

While a partner at Caddell Chapman, Cory Fein worked on a qui tam case filed in the Eastern District of Texas against dialysis provider DaVita. The firm represented a whistleblower, Ivey Woodard, who accused DaVita of over-administering the drug Epogen to exploit Medicare reimbursements. The case settled for $55 million in July 2012. The claim was that DaVita was administering so-called overfill — an extra quantity of a drug in each vial, required by law to ensure full doses are given — of Epogen to patients and fraudulently seeking reimbursement from Medicare for the overfill. The whistleblower was awarded the maximum relator’s share of 30%. The case was USA ex rel. v. DaVita Inc., Case number 1:05-cv-00227, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.