SPOTLIGHT: A good year for whistleblowers

It looks like 2005 was a bad year for healthcare fraudsters, but a good year for those willing to expose them. According to a report by DHHS, the Federal government took in approximately $1.47 billion in judgments and settlements in health care fraud cases during 2005. The whistleblowers who helped the feds find these scammers, filing qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act, did pretty well, too, splitting nearly $137 million in awards--far more than in 2004. Last year's filings included Medicare fraud, medical device liability and hospital overcharging cases. Article