New Resource
practice areas
- FDA & Healthcare
- White Collar Litigation & Government Investigations
- False Claims Act and Qui Tam Litigation
- Health Industry Compliance & Government Enforcement
- Healthcare Specialty Providers & Suppliers
- Pharmaceuticals & Biologics
- Medical Devices & Radiological Products
- Life Sciences
- Government Contracting
honors + affiliations
Assistant U.S. Attorney and DOJ Health Care Fraud Coordinator, Affirmative Civil Fraud Coordinator, Professional Responsibility Officer, for the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland, 1991 to 1999
Listed, Legal Media Group's Life Sciences "Life Sciences Star" - Fraud and Abuse (2012)
Listed, Washington, D.C. Corporate Counsel Super Lawyers for White Collar Matters
Listed, "Outstanding Healthcare Fraud and Compliance Lawyer," Nightingale's
Listed, Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers for White Collar Matters
Recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of the top attorneys in Washington for government disclosures and handling whistleblower actions
Member, BNA Advisory Board for Medical Devices Law & Industry Report
Co-Chair, ABA White Collar Crime False Claims Act Subcommittee.
Adjunct Faculty, Catholic University Columbus Law School
Former Chair, Fraud and Abuse Practice Group, American Health Lawyers Association and Current Member, Program Committee for Annual Fraud and Compliance Forum
Chair, Litigation Section of the Maryland State Bar Association
Fellow, Maryland Bar Foundation
Recipient, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Inspector General's Integrity Award
Law Clerk, Honorable William H. Adkins, II, Court of Appeals of Maryland
bar admissions
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Washington, D.C.
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1111 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004-2541
Phone: 202.739.5458
Fax: 202.739.3001
Kathleen McDermott is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Morgan Lewis and has been involved in government enforcement and compliance matters for over 20 years. She has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and DOJ Health Care Fraud Coordinator, and is a recipient of the HHS-OIG Inspector General's Integrity Award for her work in government healthcare fraud matters.
Ms. McDermott has a national corporate defense practice in a broad array of government enforcement and litigation representations and has handled government investigations and litigation in diverse federal and state jurisdictions relating to violations of the False Claims Act and allegations of off-label promotion, anti-kickback, reimbursement, privacy, and quality of care violations. She has been recognized as a leading False Claims Act practitioner with both government and defense experience and as a D.C. Super Lawyer in white collar corporate matters. Ms. McDermott has experience in representing companies in the life sciences industry and was recently recognized as a Life Sciences Star in Fraud and Abuse by the Legal Media Group.
Ms. McDermott also maintains a robust compliance practice and has been designated as one of the top fraud and abuse compliance attorneys in the country by Nightingale's. She represents various industry sectors on voluntary government disclosures, mandated compliance matters, including OIG-CIAs and DOJ consent decrees, compliance policy development for global operations, and fraud and abuse, transparency, and industry codes of ethics counseling. She frequently conducts training and internal reviews for corporate boards and related corporate operations.
Ms. McDermott teaches and publishes on corporate compliance and enforcement developments and has served as Chair of the American Health Lawyers Association's Fraud and Abuse Practice Group and as a board member for the BNA Medical Devices Law and Industry publication. She has served as faculty for many years for the Seton Hall Health Care Compliance Program and as adjunct faculty for Catholic University Columbus School of Law, teaching on health care fraud and compliance issues.
Ms. McDermott is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Massachusetts and before various federal courts.
Selected Representations
In addition to scores of federal and state investigations, Ms. McDermott has been involved in numerous trial and appellate proceedings, including over 30 published and unpublished court decisions involved the False Claims Act, health care fraud, federal constitutional law, federal discrimination law and state law business torts. Recent corporate representations include:
- International device company in a False Claims Act whistleblower action for off-label promotion of products.
- National long term care providers in state and federal quality of care investigations.
- False Claims Act qui tam alleging hospital quality of care violations.
- National hospice providers in False Claims Act investigations.
- Health plans in Medicare Advantage investigations.
- OIG permissive exclusion proceeding under false claims b (7) provisions.
- Midwest orthopedic surgeon practice in federal anti-kickback investigations.
- Several International device companies in anti-kickback investigations.
- DOJ False Claims Act qui tam involving hospital kyphoplasty procedures.
- Clinical research organization in anti-kickback investigation involving Phase IV study.
- Sleep services provider in False Claims Act investigation.
- Special counsel to an academic medical center on Stark False Claims Act qui tam investigation.
- Voluntary disclosures for national health care providers on reimbursement and credentialing issues.
- Transaction due diligence for health industry acquisitions on fraud and abuse issues and government investigations.
- OIG CIA counsel for international device company.
- Board compliance counsel for pharmaceutical company under OIG CIA.
- Compliance counsel for medical societies.
- Compliance counseling related to global health care professional interactions and payment policies, international codes of ethics, and internal investigations and compliance reviews related to global operations.
education
- Suffolk University Law School, 1986, J.D., Cum Laude
- Wright State University, 1982, B.A., University Honors Scholar