Michael Goldsticker co-authored an article for the American Health Law Association on a recent Supreme Court decision impacting the health care and life sciences industries. 

"While much of the health care enforcement world has been focused on the potential for qui tam constitutionality to make its way through the appellate system, the United States Supreme Court recently made a big decision that impacts health care providers right now," Michael wrote with Jonathan Porter of Husch Blackwell. "On October 7, 2024, the Justices denied review of a Second Circuit decision holding that, to act 'willfully' under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), a defendant must have known its conduct was in some way unlawful."

They went on to explain how members of the health care and life sciences industries having generalized knowledge of the AKS will not be enough to maintain a complaint against them.

"Instead, the Justice Department or relator must plausibly allege that the defendant knew that the specific act constituting the kickback was unlawful," they wrote. "Moreover, if the defendant made public the purported kickback in some way, or did not take steps to conceal it, the Hart decision counsels that should weigh in favor of a lack of AKS violation. Finally, Hart’s requirement that plaintiffs plausibly allege knowledge of wrongdoing provides an avenue for AKS defendants to seek dismissal at the pleadings stage notwithstanding that mental states may be alleged generally under Rule 9(b)."

Click here to read the full article. 

The American Health Law Association is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field.

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