Gregory Demske

Greg Demske is a partner in Goodwin’s Litigation and Healthcare practices. As the only former HHS OIG Chief Counsel in private practice, Greg brings a unique perspective to compliance and enforcement issues. After decades of leadership in OIG and partnership with the Department of Justice, Greg has a deep understanding of how the government interprets and enforces the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the False Claims Act (FCA) and other fraud remedies.

Greg represents and counsels life sciences and healthcare companies in:

• Investigations and litigation under the FCA (including qui tam), AKS, and other government and private enforcement actions
• Internal investigations of compliance issues
• Strategically assessing and reducing compliance risks
• Enhancing compliance programs

For example, Greg works with clients to: structure business practices to reduce AKS risks, request advisory opinions, respond to internal or external allegations, lead internal investigations, assess and mitigate compliance risks in mergers and acquisitions, provide expert compliance advice to boards and executives, submit and resolve voluntary disclosures, and advocate and litigate against the Department of Justice, OIG, qui tam relators, and others in FCA and other enforcement cases.

Greg is a member of the American Health Law Association (Board of Directors 2017-2023), the American Bar Association Health Law Section, and the Health Care Compliance Association.

In his role as HHS OIG Chief Counsel from 2012 to 2022, Greg led the 130-person Office of Counsel to the Inspector General (OCIG), which provided all OIG legal services, including all aspects of:

• Representation of HHS in all FCA cases involving HHS (including Medicare and Medicaid)
• Recommendations to DOJ in all HHS-related qui tams about intervention, litigation, and settlement
• Negotiation and monitoring of Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs)
• Exclusions from participation in Federal health care programs
• Civil monetary penalties (CMPs) for fraud and other misconduct
• Review and settlement of matters submitted under the OIG self-disclosure protocol
• AKS safe harbor regulations
• Advisory opinions on AKS and other OIG remedies
• Guidance to industry on risk areas and voluntary compliance efforts
• Legal advice to OIG on audits, evaluations, and investigations

For more than 30 years, Greg helped lead the government’s health care fraud enforcement and compliance efforts. Greg shaped OIG’s overall enforcement and guidance strategies and decided or influenced OIG’s approach in most major cases and issues. He also led OIG’s coordination with the DOJ on FCA cases related to Medicare, Medicaid, and other HHS programs. Before assuming leadership roles, Greg was the OIG attorney on hundreds of FCA cases and dozens of CIAs and litigated CMP cases before administrative law judges. During his OIG career, Greg served on details as a Special Assistant US Attorney at the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and later as Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General.

Greg was named as a Recommended Lawyer for his work in Healthcare: Service Providers by the Legal 500 US in 2024.

During his government career, Greg received the Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention, the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, and multiple other awards.

Greg frequently presents on topics related to healthcare and life sciences fraud enforcement and compliance. In addition to being a public speaker before multiple bar and compliance associations, Greg has presented to and engaged with health care and life science industry groups in many public and private settings.

Select Presentations

• “Fraud and Compliance Year in Review (2024):  Looking Back, Planning Ahead,” AHLA Webinar, February 5, 2025
• “New OIG and DOJ Compliance Guidance for Healthcare Providers,” Strafford CLE Webinar, January 29, 2025
• “Anti-Kickback Statute and EKRA Primer,” AHLA Fundamentals of Health Law, November 18, 2024
• “Physician Self-Referral Law vs Anti-Kickback Statute,” AHLA Fundamentals of Health Law, November 18, 2024
• “Investigations, Enforcement and Prosecutions Roundtable,” Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Ethics and Compliance Congress, October 29, 2024
• “Top Federal Healthcare Regulatory, Guidance, and Legal Developments,” HCCA Boston Regional Compliance Conference, September 13, 2024
• “Defense Perspective Session,” National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, June 27, 2024 
• “OIG Compliance Program Guidance Reboot; What the Health Care Industry Should Know,” AHLA Webinar, May 15, 2024
• “Enforcement and Compliance in Laboratory Services”, ABA Institute on Health Care Fraud, May 3, 2024
• “Federal Administrative Enforcement: Suspensions, Exclusions, and Civil Money Penalties”, ABA Institute on Health Care Fraud, May 3, 2024
• “The Legacy of Enforcement of the Anti-Kickback Statute”, ABA Institute on Health Care Fraud, May 1, 2024
• “Update on Stark, Anti-kickback and EKRA Developments”, HCCA Compliance Institute, April 17, 2024
• “Top Regulatory and Enforcement Developments You Should Know About in 2024,” HCCA Compliance Institute, April 16, 2024
• “2023 OIG and DOJ Compliance Guidance for Healthcare Providers,” Strafford CLE Webinar, January 24, 2024
• “Criminal and Civil Stark and Anti-Kickback Cases,” Georgia State Bar Association Health Care Fraud Seminar, December 7, 2023
• “Anti-Kickback Statute and EKRA Primer,” AHLA Fundamentals of Health Law, November 6, 2023
• “Physician Self-Referral Law vs Anti-Kickback Statute,” AHLA Fundamentals of Health Law, November 6, 2023
• “Reflections on the Role of the False Claims Act as a Major Force in the Regulation of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industries,” Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Ethics and Compliance Congress, October 26, 2023
• “The Rising Stakes of Data Governance and How Companies are Responding,” Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Ethics and Compliance Congress, October 25, 2023
• “Chief Compliance Officer Lightning Round,” AdvaMed Medtech Conference, October 11, 2023
• “Trends in False Claims Act Litigation, OIG Audits, and Other Risk Areas,” CompliancePalooza, October 3, 2023
• “The Current State of RA Litigation and Risk Areas for MA Plans, Physician Groups, Vendors and Downstream Entities,” RISE West 2023, August 29, 2023
• “Federal Administrative Enforcement: Suspensions, Exclusions and Civil Money Penalties, American Bar Association (ABA) Institute on Health Care Fraud, May 5, 2023
• “Cooperation Credit and FCA Settlements – Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?,” Federal Bar Association webinar, May 3, 2023

Congressional Testimony

• Continuing Concerns with the Federal Select Agent Program: Department of Defense Shipments of Live Anthrax, House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, July 28, 2015
• Examining the Relationship Between the Medical Device Industry and Physicians, Senate Special Committee on Aging, February 27, 2008
• Role of OIG in Identifying and Preventing Abuse of the Elderly, Senate Special Committee on Aging, July 18, 2007

Article

• Co-Author, “A Practical Look at OIG’s New Compliance Guidance,” Goodwin Client Alert, November 22, 2023
• Co-Author, “The Supreme Court Holds that the False Claims Act’s Scienter Element Turns on Defendant’s Subjective Beliefs, Rejecting Seventh Circuit’s Objective Standard,” Goodwin Client Alert, June 5, 2023
• Co-Author, “Seven Tips for Healthcare & Life Sciences Companies Engaging Independent Monitors and Compliance Experts,” Goodwin Client Alert, May 24, 2023
• Co-Author, “Supreme Court Holds DOJ Has Broad, But Not Unlimited, Discretion to Dismiss False Claims Act Qui Tam Litigation Brought by Private Whistleblowers,” Goodwin Client Alert, 2023
• Co-Author, "Shared Goals: How the HHS Office of Inspector General Supports Health Care Industry Compliance Efforts," Mitchell Hamline Law Review: Vol. 44: Iss. 4, Article 1, 2018