In the year 2005, the Department of Health and Senior Services awarded approximately 136 million dollars to whistleblowers across the United States. In cases filed under an area of law known as qui tam lawsuits, the federal government aggressively pursued both healthcare and non-healthcare providers who were accepting federal funds, but fraudulently billing them. Employees and private citizens with enough courage to do so, reported these improper actions to the federal government, allowing the Department of Justice to right a significant number of wrongs and recoup money that had been wrongfully taken from them. A beneficial byproduct of this area of litigation involved a number of CRIPA claims against nursing homes, centers for developmental disabilities and other institutions which provides healthcare services to our most vulnerable citizens. In a number of these cases, including two which I personally worked on, lawsuits and settlements directly resulted from the cooperation of families, attorneys and other concerned individuals. For more information on these claims and to learn where you can report mistreatment or fraud, feel free to visit the Department of Justice website.