Defense firm warns federal contractors about FCA amendments in Healthcare Law

The law firm of Gibson Dunn represents companies when they are accused of defrauding the government. They have now posted to their web page an article that warns federal contractors about the new liabilities they face as a result of the newly signed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the new Healthcare Law. My colleague, Lindsey Williams (Advocacy Director of the National Whistleblowers Center), posted an entry here about how the Senate bill included improvements to the False Claims Act (FCA). She explained how the amendments undo the effect of restrictive court decisions that made it harder for whistleblowers and the government to recover damages from fraudsters. The Gibson Dunn article bemoans how this congressional act will "reverse the recent judicial trend toward limiting FCA qui tam actions and will likely increase both the number and type of whistleblower suits." On this, we can agree.