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Toward A Fair And Practical Definition Of "Willfully" In The Medicare/Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute, Tamsen D. Love

Vanderbilt Law Review

Health care fraud takes on a variety of forms-from billing insurance companies for services not provided, to falsifying injuries for tort plaintiffs, to practicing medicine without a license.' All these types of fraud contribute to the astronomical cost of health care in the United States. As federal policymakers have focused on ways to contain these costs, health care fraud has become an increasing object of scrutiny. At the same time, the health care industry is experiencing significant institutional change, particularly with the emergence of health maintenance organizations ("HMOs") and other managed care systems. The Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback statute, which prohibits payments …