With so many developments in the Virginia Office of the Attorney General and in the Attorney General race, I let some Maryland developments slip by the goalie.      

Specifically, Maryland Senate Bill 272, which is styled as the "Maryland False Health Claims Act of 2009" was introduced.  Unfortunately, as one can discern from the title, the statute only penalizes false claims to Medicaid and state health plans.  

Marylanders should immediately contact their representatives in the Maryland Senate and urge them to amend Senate Bill 272 into a real false claims act.  

In the last legislative session, the Maryland False Claims Act of 2008 failed by a single vote in the Senate.  The 2008 version was a real false claims act, which penalized any false claim on Maryland's public fisc with treble damages, civil penalties for each false claim, and a mandatory award of attorney's fees and costs.  The statute also contained "whistleblower" or qui tam provisions, which allowed any person with non-public, first-hand knowledge of fraud on the government to retain counsel and prosecute the claim.   

In its current version, the Maryland False Health Claims Act of 2009 contains whistleblower provisions, and carries treble damages, civil penalties, and mandatory attorney's fees, but it protects only dollars spent on health care.  

I am afraid I just do not see the logic behind penalizing only false health care claims—while such a statute may well qualify Maryland for an increased share under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, it does not do all that a state FCA statute can do.   

Three of the top five state False Claims recoveries would not have been possible if California had had a health-only statute, and California would have been $249 million poorer. 
 
Additionally, as will be covered in more detail in a later post, Sen. Grassley and Rep. Berman are making serious efforts on the federal level to ensure that states without an FCA style statute to protect their money will feel the pain when the final stimulus bill is passed.