SB 1515 Summary: Oklahoma Medicaid False Claims Act Amendments

• Increases civil penalties for false Medicaid claims from $5,000-$10,000 to $5,500-$11,000 per violation, plus three times the amount of damages sustained by the state.

• Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for false claims actions from the violation date, or three years from when material facts should have been known (maximum ten years from violation).

• Allows private citizens to bring whistleblower actions on behalf of the state for false claims, with 15-25% of proceeds if the state intervenes and prosecutes, or 25-30% if the citizen prosecutes independently.

• Protects employees, contractors, and agents from retaliation for reporting false claims violations, including reinstatement, back pay with interest, and attorney fees; provides three-year statute of limitations for retaliation claims.

• Requires sealed complaint filings for 60 days (extensible by court order), gives the state 60 days to decide whether to intervene, and bars other private parties from intervening once a whistleblower action is filed.