April 14, 2005
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will pay the federal government $3.39 million to settle allegations of false billing in its health science research activities from 1996 through last year.
The suit was the result of allegations brought by two whistleblowers who proceeded under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.
The government alleged that UAB overstated the percentage of work effort that the researchers were able to devote to a National Institutes of Health grant and unlawfully billed Medicare for clinical research trials that were also billed to the sponsor of research grants.
The Tuscaloosa News ran an April 14, 2005 story on the settlement.