/>iThe Justice Department released its annual False Claims Act statistics on Wednesday, January 15, detailing the number of cases filed, recoveries made, and relators’ shares awarded in fiscal year 2024. The government recovered $2.9 billion dollars in 2024, with 57% of that total coming from healthcare cases, 3% from defense spending cases, and the remainder from other actions. Seventy-five percent of recoveries came from qui tam actions in which the government intervened and 17% came from cases initiated by the Justice Department, while qui tam actions where the government declined to intervene resulted in only 7% of the year’s recoveries.
2024 also saw more new FCA cases initiated than ever before. There were 1,402 new matters: 423 initiated by the government and a record-shattering 979 initiated by relators.
While the overall total recoveries increased by $133 million from the year prior, the types of cases driving the number have shifted slightly. Healthcare recoveries are down $184 million from last year and are the lowest they have been since 2009. Defense spending recoveries are down $464 million and are the lowest they have been in the last several years, though DOJ noted in its press release that a $428 million defense settlement—the second largest in history—came in just after the close of the fiscal year. While those traditional stalwarts of FCA recoveries lagged in 2024, DOJ more than made up for them in recoveries in non-healthcare or defense cases. Recoveries in other cases increased $781 million over the prior year and were the highest they have been in almost a decade.
It is not immediately clear what drove the uptick in non-healthcare and defense cases, though pandemic-related fraud claims accounted for at least $250 million of the recoveries. A menagerie of claims related to other government agencies, programs, and grants also appear to have contributed, including claims related to General Services Administration contracts, Housing and Urban Development grant funds, underpayment of royalties owed for oil and natural gas on federal lands, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) projects.
Though the government increased its recoveries, it shared less of that money with whistleblowers. Relators received $50 million less than they did in fiscal year 2023. For qui tam actions in which DOJ intervened, it provided an average of 15.7% of the recoveries to the relator, which is the second-lowest relator share percentage since 2012.
In its press release touting the year-end statistics, the Justice Department highlighted healthcare recoveries in areas it has focused on in recent years, including opioid-related cases, matters alleging unnecessary services and substandard care, Medicare Advantage cases, kickbacks, and Stark Law violations. Though it did not appear to drive significant numbers in 2024, the government also highlighted its emerging cybersecurity initiative to promote cybersecurity requirements for government contractors.
