By: Kelly Kennedy – USA Today

WASHINGTON – About 36% of the almost $16 billion recovered by the Justice Department in health care whistle-blower fraud cases has come since 2009, records show, which reflects an increased focus on fighting fraud.

A bipartisan coalition backed strengthening the False Claims Act in 2009, and the Obama administration pushed for more money and tougher fraud-fighting provisions in the 2010 health care law, said Tony West, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's civil division. The health care law "allows us to use it more effectively," West said of the False Claims Act.

Whistle-blower cases are one of the "primary tools" they use to fight fraud, he said. "We've made health care fraud such a high priority; we've been using this tool very, very aggressively."

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