DOJ Announces Record Qui Tam Highs, Consistent Upward Trends in FCA Recoveries for FY 2024

On January 15, 2025, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") reported its annual recoveries under the False Claims Act ("FCA" or "the Act") for Fiscal Year ("FY") 2024, in which it recovered more than $2.9 billion in settlements and judgments. Notably, FY 2024 produced 558 settlements and judgments, the second highest number in the Act's history. Of the $2.9 billion reported, $1.67 billion related to matters involving the health care industry, including managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories, long-term acute care facilities, and physicians, a slight reduction from FY 2023’s statistic of $1.8 billion. In FY 2023, DOJ recovered $2.68 billion in settlements and judgments. This had marked a break from a general decline from the high water mark in 2014 when DOJ recovered a record $5.69 billion. In the subsequent years, the number of dollars recovered fluctuated between 2 and 5 billion — 2015 ($3.5 billion), 2016 ($4.93 billion), 2017 ($3.47 billion), 2018 ($2.9 billion), 2019 ($3 billion), 2020 ($2.2 billion), 2021 ($5 billion), and 2022 ($2.2 billion).

Notably, DOJ reported that, of the $2.9 billion in FCA recoveries in FY 2024, over $2.4 billion arose from qui tam litigation, marking a significant percentage of DOJ's overall recovery. Furthermore, FY 2024 saw a record high of qui tam lawsuits, with whistleblowers having filed 979 qui tam lawsuits. This is a sizable increase from the 712 cases filed in FY 2023. And, while the amounts paid to whistleblowers has declined from a record amount of $715 million in FY 2014, whistleblower recovery has steadily increased, from $349 million in FY 2023 to $400 million in FY 2024.

In FY 2024, DOJ reported recoveries in the form of settlements and judgments across various sectors including health care fraud (with actions targeting the opioid epidemic, claims related to unnecessary services and substandard care, Medicare Advantage matters, and unlawful kickbacks), military procurement fraud, and COVID-relief program fraud. In addition, DOJ showcased successes resulting from its cyber-fraud initiative announced in 2021, dedicated to using the FCA to facilitate compliance by government contractors and grantees with cybersecurity requirements. More specifically, DOJ found consistent success in FY 2024 targeting contractor and grant-recipients’ failures to implement adequate cybersecurity measures related to protecting personal information.

In keeping with historical trends, DOJ reported the largest FCA recoveries from the health care sector, including several actions against corporations related to curbing the opioid epidemic. For example, DOJ recovered $475.6 million from a company allegedly using marketing schemes target an opioid drug  to high-volume opioid prescribers, including prescribers the company knew were prescribing the drug improperly. DOJ also scored major wins in the healthcare sector for cases involving unlawful kickbacks and alleged violations of the Stark Act, a federal law that prohibits Medicare billing practices between financially linked entities. DOJ secured settlements ranging from $10.3 million to $345 million to resolve allegations that doctors or physicians were receiving financial kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals or recommendations for products or that companies were referring patients to physician groups with which they had financial links. DOJ also secured a settlement of $101 million against an offeror of  Medicare drug plans and pharmacy benefit manager (“PBM”) services to resolve allegations that the offeror failed to accurately report drug rebates to the Medicare Portions. The data indicates that the healthcare industry will continue to be an industry targeted by the FCA, with continued policy goals—such as addressing the opioid epidemic—acting as a driving force.

The financial resources introduced to address the COVID-19 crisis, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), continued to be a significant source of FCA recovery. Over the course of FY 2024, DOJ obtained over 250 FCA settlements and judgements related to pandemic funds, resulting in recoveries of over $250 million. Settlements focused on resolving allegations related to misrepresentations in applying for PPP loans, including a $6.3 million settlement related to a company’s improper assertions regarding its size, and improper practices in recommending medically unnecessary pathogen panel tests (as opposed to COVID-19 tests). In another instance, a medical group paid $12 million to resolve allegations that it had submitted false claims for COVID-19 testing to a program for uninsured patients arising out of the medical group’s failure to adequately confirm the individuals had health insurance coverage. The FCA continues to be DOJ’s preferred mechanism of targeting exploitation of pandemic funds and aid programs.

FY 2024 saw a particular focus on military procurement. DOJ reported recovering $70 million from an aerospace contractor over allegations that it overcharged the U.S. Navy for spare parts and materials necessary to repair and maintain an aircraft used for naval aviation training. Other military procurement fraud FCA settlements stemmed from allegations of knowingly complying noncompliant materials.

For the first time since the launch of the Civil-Cyber Fraud Initiative, in FY 2024 DOJ intervened in a cybersecurity case alleging that that a public research university failed to develop and implement a security plan as required by DOD cybersecurity regulations and submitted an inaccurate cybersecurity claim. In addition to this intervention, DOJ recovered $14 million to resolve allegations of contractors and grant recipients failing to implement cybersecurity requirements related to protecting health and other personally identifiable information.

FY 2024 marks the continued upward trend in settlements and judgements under the FCA. Contractors evaluating their potential risks areas can rely on the FCA bullseye remaining on the healthcare and procurement fields, but also should play close attention as the long-touted initiatives continue to roll out test cases, such as the DOJ’s first intervention in a cybersecurity case. Furthermore, the record high of qui tam cases demonstrates that whistleblowers continue to drive the implementation of the FCA and, with whistleblower-initiated cases making up the bulk of FCA recoveries in FY 2024, to have a marked impact on how and when DOJ targets fraud.