The proposed rule, subject to a public comment, would establish a deadline for the return of overpayments or improper reimbursements in some programs, with the potential for criminal charges for noncompliance.
The antifraud measures were part of President Obama's 2010 health-care plan, and he noted the fraud-fighting success in his State of the Union address.
During fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30, federal prosecutors obtained 21 criminal convictions in cases involving pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, resulting in $1.3 billion in criminal fines and other payments for misdeeds. Other money was recovered through civil-fraud cases that included unlawful pricing by drug companies, Medicare fraud by hospitals and other institutional providers, and violations of laws against self-referrals and kickbacks. About $419 million of the $4.1 billion was paid to whistle-blowers.
Philadelphia is a center for efforts to battle such fraud because health-care companies have a huge presence in the region.
Four former executives from Synthes Inc., a medical-device manufacturer with facilities in Chester County, were sent to prison in November and December after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an illegal clinical trial of bone cement. Three patients died on the operating table.
The government seems on its way to setting another record for the 2012 fiscal year, which will end in September.
GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., which has operations in Center City and the Philadelphia suburbs, said in November that it had reached a $3 billion agreement with the Justice Department to settle allegations related to multiple drugs, including the diabetes drug Avandia, from 1997 through 2004.
