I have been sitting on this ruling for a few weeks attempting to decide how I wanted to address the content within our blog. However, the implications are too vast and polarizing to do justice to this ruling. As such, I invite all of my colleagues to read and become familiar with the Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar decision which became final on June 16th, as I believe the impact of this ruling will become self evident and far reaching!
The unanimous decision holds that:
“(1) The implied false certification theory can be a basis for liability under the False Claims Act when a defendant submitting a claim makes specific representations about the goods or services provided, but fails to disclose non-compliance with material statutory, regulatory, or contractual requirements that make those representations misleading with respect to those goods or services; and
(2) liability under the FCA for failing to disclose violations of legal requirements does not turn upon whether those requirements were expressly designated as conditions of payment.”
You can read more about the decision on the SCOTUS blog and I hope that you enjoy the reading as much as I did!