Because of his experience as a former Texas Assistant Attorney General and his service as Chief of the Texas Civil Medicaid Fraud Section, Baron & Budd attorney Patrick O’Connell is frequently called upon to testify or comment on issues involving state or federal false claims acts. Most recently, he was quoted in support of attempts to pass a state false claims act in Maryland this year.

In Maryland, as in many other states, as much as ten percent of the state’s total Medicaid funding is lost through fraud. State false claims acts can provide a mechanism for states to recover this money, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. O’Connell has reported that the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act, passed in 1997, has allowed Texas to recover nearly half a billion dollars from healthcare providers who have defrauded the Texas Medicaid system. Proponents hope that SB 279, the Maryland False Health Claims Act of 2010, would have similar benefit for Maryland taxpayers.

“The state budgets are under so much pressure today, we can’t afford to let our public funds be robbed by fraud,” says O’Connell. “The false claims acts have been a valuable tool in recovering money that is sorely needed for public services and benefits.”

Last year, O’Connell spoke out in support of the Minnesota’s False Claims Act, testifying before the Minnesota House of Representatives. See Related Story. The Minnesota False Claims Act was passed and becomes effective in July of this year.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

Dallas-based Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Baton Rouge, Austin and Beverly Hills, is a nationally recognized firm with more than three decades of experience representing people and communities harmed by corporate negligence. It has been recognized repeatedly by the National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” (2002-2006, 2008; Incisive Media). The firm resolved one of the first asbestos cases in the United States in the 1970s and continues to serve people diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer as well as communities and consumers dealing with the costs of fraud and corporate misconduct.