WASHINGTON--The greatest share of False Claims Act whistleblower cases are health care fraud cases, the Government Accountability Office has reported.

And health care fraud cases also are the most profitable for whistleblowers.

Of a total 2,490 FCA whistleblower cases closed and unsealed from 1987 through 2005, 1,145 health care fraud cases were filed, the GAO said in its report, "Information on False Claims Act Litigation."

With a total of $5 billion from 385 recoveries, health care fraud qui tam recoveries were the largest of any type of fraud. According to the GAO, the total share amount for whistleblowers in those health care fraud recoveries was $841 million.

The report was issued after Sen. Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Reps. James Sensebrenner, Jr., R-Wis., and Chris Cannon, R.-Utah, requested information concerning the relationship between the government and whistleblowers in prosecuting FCA qui tam actions.

Of the $15 billion the government recovered under the FCA from 1987 through 2005, $9.6 billion was for recoveries related to qui tam actions filed by whistleblowers, the GAO said.

The GAO found that agencies with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense were named more regularly than other federal government agencies as alleged victims of fraud in FCA cases--59 percent for HHS and 29 percent for the DOD.

Growth in cases filed also was addressed in the findings: In 1987, HHS was named as the alleged fraud target in four qui tam whistleblower cases, while in 2005 that number had increased to 270.

To access the GAO report, click here.

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