Robert Salcido Quoted on Criminal Charges in North Carolina Medicare Case
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Robert Salcido, a partner in Akin Gump’s health care practice, was quoted in the Law360 article “Hospital's Medicare Woes Signal Shift In Feds’ FCA Tactics,” which discussed a recently settled criminal case involving WakeMed Health and Hospitals and its billing practices regarding Medicare.
Salcido, discussing the unusual criminal, rather than civil, charges, said criminal charges are usually only seen in very large settlements, such as the $950 million Merck paid for its promotion of Vioxx, or against “fly-by-night” operators who are more scammer than health care provider. Criminal cases are much harder to prove than civil claims, given the need to show an intent to defraud the government, he said, which goes to show why the majority of false claims cases are civil.
