Education About the False Claims Act

Cooper University Health Care (CUHC) is committed to complying with the requirements of Section 6032 of the Federal Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, preventing, and detecting any fraud, waste or abuse in the organization.

The DRA mandates that CUHC:

  • Establish written policies for all employees and contractors or agents that provide detailed information about federal and New Jersey false claims law; fraud, waste, and abuse in health care programs;
  • Establish policies for detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse; and
  • Provide employees with a specific discussion of their right to be protected as whistleblowers.

To this end, CUHC maintains a compliance program and strives to educate its work force on fraud and abuse laws, including the importance of submitting accurate claims and reports to the Federal and State governments. Under the False Claims Act, it is violation to knowingly submit a false claim to the government.  Some examples of health care fraud that may lead to the submission of fraudulent claims to the government are:

  • Falsifying billing and/or medical record coding;
  • Billing for goods or services not medically necessary;
  • Duplicate billing for items or services;
  • Submitting bills for services never performed or items never furnished; or
  • Failing to return overpayments.

As a contractor or agent of CUHC, we are notifying you of Cooper’s Policy, Education About the False Claims Act, which sets forth the guidelines that all employees, contractors and agents are required to follow to assure compliance with the False Claims Act and to detect and prevent fraud, waste and abuse.  We ask that you familiarize yourself and your workforce who provide services to CUHC with this policy. 

Anyone with knowledge of potential fraud, waste or abuse must report such through any of the following methods:

 Any information provided will be kept in confidence to the extent feasible and legal.

Retaliation or retribution for reporting issues “in good faith” is prohibited at CUHC.

If you have any questions about this policy, contact Angela Melillo, Chief Compliance Officer at 856-536-1303.