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Health Care Fraud: What’s Intent Got to Do With It?
John G. Martin, a partner at Garfunkel Wild, writes: The concepts of fraud and fraudulent intent seem simple enough to apply, at least on the surface. But something about placing the words “health care” in front of these terms tempts federal prosecutors to broaden the definitions, and to seek to include within their reach conduct which, although admittedly wrong on some level, is already addressed through regulatory prohibition and punishment, and to substitute prison sentences for the fines and debarments historically used to sanction such conduct.
