National Harbor, MD | March 29, 2017 – Stumphauzer & Sloman partner Ryan Stumphauzer recently gave two presentations at the Health Care Compliance Association’s (HCCA) 21st Annual Compliance Institute in National Harbor, Maryland, on March 29, 2017. The first presentation was titled “Compounding Pharmacy Prosecutions: Past Lessons and Future Trends.” Mr. Stumphauzer served on the panel with Assistant United States Attorney Jason Mehta and Elizabeth Shaw of RezLegal, LLC. The panel reviewed the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Civil Monetary Penalty Law, and other laws that the government can utilize to impose severe monetary penalties and criminal sanctions on compounding pharmacies, pharmacists, physicians, marketers and others. The panel then reviewed the government’s past enforcement actions against compounding pharmacies, and discussed common fact patterns that have attracted government scrutiny including the payment of research fees and/or medical director fees to prescribing physicians, employment opportunities and other incentives offered to prescribing physicians’ family members, percentage -based commission payments to marketers, waivers of patient co-pays, kickbacks to patients in the form of untraceable gift cards, as well as mass telemarketing schemes. That panel also summarized and discussed the facts of several recent cases where the government has prosecuted compounding pharmacists, marketers, and executives based on the unlawful dispensing and promotion of compounded drugs. The panelists also offered their predictions regarding the government’s future enforcement efforts and priorities, and how they could impact compliance professionals and in-house counsel.
The second panel was titled “Government Investigations and Compliance Matters: Roadmap for In-House Counsel and Compliance Professionals.” Mr. Stumphauzer served on the panel with Manhu Davar of Arnold & Porter Kay Scholer and Anna Grizzle of Bass Berry & Sims. That panel reviewed and summarized important federal healthcare fraud enforcement statutes, such as the False Claims Act and the Stark Law, and also discussed the roles of compliance professionals, in-house counsel, and outside counsel when conducting internal investigations and when responding to government healthcare fraud investigations. The presentation also discussed a recent Department of Justice policy memo that directs federal prosecutors to focus on individual health care executives, and not just the companies they work for, when investigating healthcare fraud schemes. The panel discussed how this important policy memo impacts decision-making during internal investigations and government investigations, including when to hire independent counsel for individual health care executives.
If you are a target of a government investigation or wish to learn more about conducting an internal investigation, please contact the attorneys at Stumphauzer & Sloman.
