Jesse Witten Quoted in Modern Healthcare and Daytona Beach News Journal

Washington, D.C., partner Jesse Witten was quoted in a Modern Healthcare article, titled, “Halifax ruling supports hospitals’ defense in false-claims cases,” regarding a high-profile False Claims Act case involving Halifax Hospital Medical Center. The Modern Healthcare article discussed a ruling by a federal judge in Orlando, Fl. that violating Medicare’s conditions of participation doesn’t automatically expose providers to the potentially crippling triple-damages available under the False Claims Act.

“The Court’s ruling…is consistent with many other cases where courts have held that violating the Medicare conditions of participation regulations is not enough to establish False Claims Act liability.” said Jesse “This is the first decision to point out that the physician-order requirement was a condition of participation.”

Jesse also noted that “just last year, the CMS revised its regulation to clarify that a physician’s valid admitting order is a ‘condition payment’ from Medicare, and not a condition of participation.”

Click here to read the full article.

The Daytona Beach News Journal also quoted Jesse regarding the importance of the Halifax case and the Court’s decision on damages.

See article, here.