2024 False Claims Act Recoveries - By the Numbers

The DOJ recently published its 2024 False Claims Act (FCA) recovery statistics for 2024. Let's dive in!

First, the key headline is that 2024 recoveries, totaling about $2.9. billion, outpaced 2023 by about $133 million for a roughly 4.8% increase (outpacing inflation, at least). This is a significant drop from the 2023 year-over-year increase, which was about 24.7%. This past year's recoveries were the highest annual total since 2021, where recoveries eclipsed $5.6 billion, but 2024 still remains below the 20-year average of $3.1 billion in FCA recoveries per year.

Sector Breakdowns

The healthcare sector represented 57% of recoveries in 2024, and now account for 69% of total FCA recoveries going back to 1987. Notable healthcare cases in 2024 included:

• $106.8 million to resolve allegations that the government was billed for prescriptions that were processed but never picked up by beneficiaries
• $101 million for failure to accurately report drug rebates to Medicare
• $19.4 million to resolve claims related to overbilling of hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible to receive such benefits

The defense sector represented a paltry 3% of recoveries in 2024, down from 20% in 2023. Notable defense cases in 2024 included:

• $70 million to settle claims that related to overcharging the U.S. Navy for spare parts and materials used to maintain aircraft for naval aviator training

Last, there is the "all other" bucket which reached a ten-year high representing 40% of recoveries, up significantly from 13% last year. Notable cases in 2024 included:

• At least three cases involving the Civil-Cyber Fraud Initiative, totaling $13.9 million in recoveries
• $55.1 million to resolve allegations of falsified commercial sales practice disclosures to the GSA
• $34.6 million to settle claims of underpaid royalties for oil and gas produced from federal lands
• $18.4 million to resolve claims that a nuclear site contractor billed for time not worked

Qui Tam vs Non Qui Tam

In 2024, qui tam cases represented 83% of total recoveries, or $2.4 billion, which is slightly down from recent years, but higher than the average of 62% since 1987. On a cumulative basis, qui tam recoveries account for about 71% of all FCA recoveries. Qui tam cases can be further segregated into those where the U.S. Government intervened and those the government declined to intervene. In 2024, cases where the U.S. government intervened accounted for 75% of recoveries, whereas other qui tam cases represented only 7.5%.

Non qui tam cases accounted for 17% of 2024 recoveries. Since 1987, non qui tam cases have accounted for nearly 30% of FCA recoveries, or about $23 billion.

The chart above depicts an interesting metric which is the average settlement amount (i.e., total settlement divided by number of settlements in a given year). Since 1995, the number of qui tam cases has outpaced that of non qui tam and, indeed, qui tam cases have brought in more FCA recoveries in all but four of the 30 years since. But, as depicted above, non qui tam cases have on a per-case basis yielded higher recoveries in most years since 1995, and in some years, considerably more (e.g., 5.7x in 2006 and 6.7x in 2021). The last three years, however, have seen qui tam cases with higher per-case totals than non qui tam, so it will be fascinating to see how this trend continues, and what it means for the future of the False Claims Act.

Relators' Share

What can we say? To be a relator certainly pays.

In 2024, relators claimed nearly $404 million out of total FCA recoveries of $2.9 billion, or nearly 14%. This share is down from the two prior years -- in fact, 2022 was the relators' best year in relative terms, as they raked in just over 22% of total recoveries. In 2024, relators received $721 million, their best year in dollar terms.

On a per-case basis (looking at qui tam cases only), relators earned on average about $412,637 per case in 2024. This is actually the lowest per-case average this millenia, as you need to go back to 1999 to see a lower average. So I should amend my opening statement to be: to be a relator (on the right case) certainly pays.

Conclusion

With likely incoming AG Pam Bondi affirming her backing of the constitutionality and usefulness of the False Claims Act, recipients of government funds should continue to remain ever-vigilant of the myriad ways you can stumble into false claims territory. As we saw in 2024, this can range from the "ordinary" risks of incorrect timesheets and reimbursements for ineligible services, to unique accounting situations such as inflated intercompany transactions, to novel enforcement vectors, such as cybersecurity lapses.

Leave a comment or question, and stay tuned, I will try to make this FCA data round-up an annual occurrence.