Whistle blow or not

GPO's and hospitals affiliated with them are allowing device companies to overbill them to get more Medicare money. Do any other reps have experience with hospital GPO contracting and your company over billing? This is fraud. Would you blow the whistle? We are the tax payers who pay for the inflated numbers.....

 

The decision to whistle blow or not is a difficult one. First, find out what your company's policy is on whistle blowing and investigations. Second, before you decide what to do, contact an attorney. There are a number of law firms that specialize in whistle blower protection and its worth a consultation (generally free of charge). I do expert witness testimony related to whistle blowing and can tell you that there are a lot of potholes to avoid.

I had a recent experience related to whistle blowing. A had a friend who was a sales rep for one of the large houses. This person would take expiring medications from her locker and use them herself and giving them to her friends. She gave me several medications which I never used. I filed a whistle blower complaint with her employer, the FDA and law enforcement. I self identified in the complaint to the employer (which was a mistake) and cooperated with them in their investigation. During the course of the employer's internal investions, they threatened to sue me for receivng stolen goods and being in possession of medications that require prescriptions, despite the fact that I never used them and turned them in to the employer. The employee was recently fired, but only after I filed a complaint with the FDA and law enforcement.

Its my experience that despite federal law on the subject, companies in this industry have a "circle the wagons" mentality and do a poor job of correcting wrongdoing.

Good luck!