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Oklahoma False Claims Act goes into effect November 1

Pharma Compliance Alert, October 24, 2007

Oklahoma will join the 18 states and the District of Columbia with their own version of the federal False Claims Act when its version of the Act goes into effect next month.

The Oklahoma Medicaid False Claims Act is a general false claims act, and is not limited to Medicaid. The act was passed by the Oklahoma senate on May 8, 2007, and the house on April 25, 2007. The Act officially takes effect on November 1, 2007.

The OIG has not yet reviewed the Oklahoma law. The OIG reviews state laws to determine whether they meet the requirements for incentives set out in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA).

The DRA provides financial incentive for states to enact false claims acts as long as they meet certain requirements. The acts must:

• Establish liability to the state for false or fraudulent Medicaid claims
• Contain qui tam provisions that are as effective as those in the federal False Claims Act
• Contain a requirement for filing an action under seal for 60 days with review by the state attorney general
• Contain a civil penalty that is at least the amount of the one in the federal False Claims Act

To date, 13 state-specific False Claims Acts have been reviewed and eight have meet the requirements.

Click here to read Oklahoma's law.

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