Further Developments in Constitutional Challenges to the False Claims Act, and Lessons From the Indictment of Two Telemedicine Corporations
February 26, 2026 | New York Law Journal
In the latest installment of his New York Law Journal column on healthcare enforcement, Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello partner Robert M. Radick examines two developments. First, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently declined to hear an interlocutory appeal in In re: TriHealth, leaving intact prior circuit precedent upholding the constitutionality of the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision. The decision shifts attention in the ongoing constitutional debate over the qui tam provision to other pending appellate cases, including Zafirov in the Eleventh Circuit and Penelow in the Third Circuit. Second, the Department of Justice indicted telehealth company Done Global and related entity Mindful Mental Wellness for their alleged participation in a scheme to illegally distribute Adderall over the internet, just six weeks following the conviction of the companies’ founder and a physician executive for the same alleged conduct. The column discusses the potential significance of DOJ’s decision to issue corporate indictments after it had already secured individual convictions for identical conduct, including whether the Done Global case signals particularly aggressive enforcement in the realm where telemedicine and controlled substances overlap.
