Dr. Kevin Caves Provides “Critical” Economic Testimony in Successful Recovery of $75 Million from Alleged Medicaid Fraud
Dr. Kevin Caves, who joined Infotech Consulting in early 2021, has brought a wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience to the team. Prior to joining Infotech Consulting, Dr. Caves provided expert testimony in United States ex rel. Streck v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, which proved critical to a favorable outcome for both his client and U.S. taxpayers.
In April 2021, the US Department of Justice and Daniel Miller of Walden Macht & Haran, counsel for whistleblower Roland J. Streck, announced that Bristol-Myers Squibb (“BMS”) had agreed to pay the United States and participating states a total of $75 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that BMS knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.
Mr. Streck, a former pharmaceutical wholesaler executive, alleged that BMS treated millions of dollars in payments to drug distributors as “discounts,” when in fact the payments were for bona fide services. This allegedly let BMS report artificially low average manufacturer prices to the government, allowing BMS to systematically underpay drug rebates owed to Medicaid programs (and thus taxpayers) in states from coast to coast for many years.
Dr. Caves provided multiple expert reports and expert testimony analyzing the economics and market dynamics underlying key contractual terms negotiated between BMS and its distributors. Dr. Caves concluded that the contracts at issue were the outcome of competitive arm’s-length negotiations between well-informed market participants rationally pursuing their own economic interests, and that the service fees paid by BMS to its distributors represented fair market value prices for inventory management, distribution, and data services.
As Mr. Miller explained, “complex commercial litigation law firms like Walden Macht & Haran have successfully litigated declined cases against many of the nation’s largest companies. In this particular case, the results for the taxpayers speak for themselves: we took this case to the brink of trial and prevailed. Dr. Caves’ testimony and expert work were critical to achieving this outcome.”