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Johns Hopkins University Medical Center to pay $2.6 million in whistleblower settlement

Compliance Monitor, March 3, 2004

Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center have been ordered to pay $2.6 million to settle allegations that the facilities violated the False Claims Act.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney in Maryland, Johns Hopkins misled the government into paying more money than it was entitled to receive for federally sponsored research grants.

The DOJ alleges that the institutions overstated the amount of effort they were able to devote to the grants and subsequently - while using federal funds - overstated the effort that its personnel had actually worked on the grants.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 1999 by Faye Grau, a Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center employee, under the qui tam (whistleblower) provisions of the False Claims Act. The qui tam provisions allow private parties to sue entities and individuals that submit false claims to the federal government. They also allow the parties to receive a portion of the final settlement. In this case, Grau will receive $439,582.

Johns Hopkins agreed to work with the National Institutes of Health's Division of Grants Compliance and Oversight to address any necessary actions or initiatives to ensure future compliance to the grants process.

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