Indiana AG Urges Qui Tam Lawsuits for Medicare Fraud

Indianapolis, INIndiana's attorney general, Greg Zoeller, is encouraging residents to report instances of Medicare fraud to his office or to file a qui tam lawsuit.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">Zoeller urges Hoosiers to follow the lead of Kathleen McCoy, a South Bend child therapist, said she had seen health professionals give treatments that patients didn't need and then bill the government for them, according to nwiTimes.com. In response to what she witnessed, McCoy filed a quit tam lawsuit and was forced to resign.

"As a mental health professional, I intimately knew the victims and was closely connected to them and their families," she told the news source. "I had to choose to be either part of the problem or part of the solution."

Zoeller says whistleblower lawsuits are essential to detecting fraud.

"This is an area where if you don't have someone from the inside bring it to your attention, they are very difficult cases to make on your own," he told the news source.

In a qui tam lawsuit, if the government joins the case and wins, the whistleblower is entitled to a portion of the award or settlement.