Federal Sponsor Foreign Influence Investigations Continue NIH The NIH continues to investigate universities and researchers that it believes have not transparently disclosed financial ties to foreign entities and governments.  In a presentation to a senior NIH advisory panel, NIH Director of Extramural Research Mike Lauer shared that as of June 2020, some 54 scientists have…

Sponsor Requirements regarding Sexual Harassment NSF Effective October 22, 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) implemented a new award term and condition that requires grantee organizations to report findings of sexual harassment, or any other kind of harassment prohibited under university policy committed by a PI or co-PI. The award term and condition also requires…

The Opioid Crisis: An Emerging False Claims Act Risk Trend The government’s focus on the US opioid crisis has been consistently expanding over the past year beyond manufacturers to reach prescribers and health care providers who submit claims to federal health care programs for opioid prescriptions.  These efforts increasingly include investigations under the False Claims…

Compliance Week’s A-Coming! Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week is November 5 – 11. The Healthcare Compliance Team will be setting up a table and photo booth at various locations to celebrate the week. Stop by the photo booth to meet your Compliance partners, sign up for a focus group, and complete a survey to be…

NIH Researchers – Annual Disclosures are Due! All investigators who are seeking or have obtained HHS research support must submit their annual update beginning on Thursday, June 1st.  Any disclosures submitted prior to Thursday, June 1st will not count towards the annual update for FY18. Please keep in mind the following requirements: Any HHS investigator, or…

UMass Amherst Hit with $650,000 HIPAA Settlement In November, federal regulators have slapped the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a $650,000 financial settlement and corrective action plan after investigating a 2013 breach involving a malware infection at a campus speech and language center. OCR in its statement says that on June 18, 2013, UMass reported…

One Year Later: The Yates Memo, False Claims Act and Director & Executive Liability On September 19 and 27, 2016, the US Department of Justice announced two False Claims Act settlements that required corporate executives to make substantial monetary payments to resolve their liability.In the first, North American Health Care Inc. (NAHC) and two individuals…