In Short
The Situation: In March 2020, the Third and Ninth Circuits held, in two cases in which the government had declined to intervene, that a mere difference of medical opinion may be enough to satisfy the falsity element of the False Claims Act ( FCA ). This conflicted with a 2019 ruling by the Eleventh Circuit that a reasonable difference of medical opinion, without more, is insufficient to make a claim false. Citing the circuit split and the need for a uniform standard for falsity under the FCA, defendant health care providers in the Third and Ninth Circuit cases filed petitions for certiorari with the Supreme Court in late 2020.