Journal of Academic and Business Ethics Volume 9 – December, 2014 The False Claims Act’s, page 1 The False Claims Act’s broad-reach to substandard healthcare: Recommendations to organizations Angela Mattie Quinnipiac University Andrea de Azevedo Teach Plus Teresa Tai Quinnipiac University David Cadden Quinnipiac University ABSTRACT This article reviews the application of the False Claims Act (FCA) to substandard care cases in the healthcare setting (Mattie, 2009). The efforts by the government to bring FCA suits against institutions for substandard care have broadened the traditional notions of “fraud.” This expanded application of the FCA suggests that healthcare providers that submit claims for reimbursement for substandard care be liable for fraud against the government. This relatively new breed of substandard care FCA suit defies the original intent of the FCA and is not an appropriate tool for enforcement quality of care issues in healthcare settings. This paper briefly presents the history and elements of the FCA and identifies the legal theories the government has used to pursue substandard healthcare quality cases (Mattie, 2009). Alleged substandard care cases are then reviewed to substantiate the extent and significance of the application of the FCA to substandard care. Finally, presented are recommendations for healthcare organizations to mitigate FCA violations as it pertains to substandard care. Keywords: False Claims Act, substandard care, healthcare organizations, healthcare compliance, healthcare quality Copyright statement: Authors retain the copyright to the manuscripts published in AABRI journals. Please see the AABRI Copyright Policy at http://www.aabri.com/copyright.html.