DOJ Official: Department’s Opioids Strategy Will Include Aggressive FCA Enforcement

As part of its multi-pronged campaign against the opioid epidemic, the Justice Department will continue its crackdown on opioid overprescribing through False Claims Act enforcement, according to a senior DOJ official.

The FCA allows the justice department to expand its efforts beyond manufacturers to reach prescribers and any other health care provider who submits claims to federal health care programs for opioid prescriptions.

The FCA “provides the government with a powerful tool to pursue all of those in the opioid distribution chain that are responsible for the improper marketing, distribution, prescription and diversion of opioids — from pharmaceutical manufacturers to physicians, and everyone in between,” said Stephen Cox, deputy associate attorney general.