Another Whistleblower Win: Cochlear Americas Settles False Claims Act Suit For $880,000

Cochlear Americas, a Colorado-based cochlear implant manufacturer, has agreed to pay $880,000 to resolve allegations that it paid illegal remuneration to health care providers to induce purchases of cochlear implant systems. The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower, Brenda March, in 2004. The lawsuit alleged that Cochlear Americas violated the Anti-Kickback Act and the False Claims Act by paying various forms of illegal remuneration to physicians who prescribed the use of the Cochlear-manufactured devices for Medicare and Medicaid patients. 

The federal government intervened in the lawsuit in January 2007, and then shortly thereafter moved to stay the suit, while it pursued an administrative civil monetary penalties investigation against Cochlear. The settlement resolves that administrative matter as well as the lawsuit initiated by the whistleblower.
 
March brought her suit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private citizens with knowledge of fraud against the government to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery. Under the civil settlement, she will receive $176,000.