Money Over Everything: Reimagining Health Care Enforcement

Annual press releases from the Department of Justice trumpet billions of dollars in annual recoveries and optimism that its health care enforcement regime deters even more fraud than it addresses. Yet DOJ’s consistent recoveries can be seen as a sign that fraud continues unabated. While some scholars have questioned the deterrent value of the government’s model of enforcement through civil settlements, little attention has been given to what may be the most important aspect of DOJ’s effort—its focus on money both as the sole measure of harm and the sole means of deterrence.