Whistleblowers are playing a key role in revealing Medicare kickback schemes disguised as so-called patient assistance programs. In April, five separate pharmaceutical companies paid a total of $247 million for running such programs. This week, a new qui tam suit was unsealed.

Kaiser Health News offers a round up on the case:

The American Kidney Fund is supposed to help patients pay for health insurance premiums and other costs for treatment based solely on a patient’s financial need, and not favor companies that donate to it. But a new whistleblower lawsuit claims the charity created a so-called blocked list of dialysis clinics whose patients would not get financial assistance while it made sure patients at clinics operated by DaVita and Fresenius would.

The story notes that the Department of Justice declined to join the case. The lawsuit makes many of the same claims outlined in a 2016 New York Times series. Here’s what the Times reports on the new developments:

The lawsuit, filed by David Gonzalez, who worked for 12 years at the kidney fund in its patient assistance program until he left in 2015, accused the charity of creating a so-called blocked list of dialysis clinics whose patients would not get financial assistance while making sure patients at clinics operated by DaVita and Fresenius would…
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