Stephen M. Godek Email and Phone Number

• Appointed to provide an impartial, independent appellate review of ALJ decisions involving complex areas of Medicare coverage and reimbursement of beneficiary and provider/supplier claims for Medicare reimbursement in wide categories

• Appointed by the Secretary to provide an impartial, independent appellate review ofALJ decisions and de novo review of HHS agency determinations involving a wide range of departmental programs.• Decided cases on appellate review of ALJ decisions, including administrative enforcement actions seeking the imposition of CMPs and program exclusion of Medicare providers and suppliers; nursing home administrative enforcement actions seeking the imposition of CMPs; the denial/revocation of billing privileges for provider/suppliers.• Issued recommended decisions to the Commissioner of the Social SecurityAdministration on appellate review of HHS ALJ decisions in administrative enforcement actions seeking the imposition of civil money penalties against beneficiaries for violatingthe Social Security Act.• Decided cases on de novo review of HHS agency determinations in Departmental mandatory and discretionary project grant programs, such as disallowances of state Medicaid costs, denials of PHS grant refunding, cost allocation plan disapprovals, indirect cost ratedeterminations, and termination of Head Start grants.• Presided over oral arguments addressing legal issues in cases before the Board. Conducted informal conferences with parties to identify and narrow legal/factual issues, resolve privilege and discovery disputes, and rule on procedural issues.

• Lead counsel in hearings and trials before ALJs in administrative enforcement actions involving allegations of health care fraud by Medicare providers/suppliers. Leadcounsel in the successful defense of several ALJ decisions in health care fraud cases brought before the HHS Departmental Appeals Board. • Lead counsel in the successful defense of a Departmental Appeals Board decision affirming the OIG's imposition of civil money penalties and exclusion from program participation in appeals before the U.S. Fourth and Eighth Circuits Court of Appeals.• Represented OCIG as lead counsel in cases the U.S. District Courts for the Central District of California, Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Colorado. Successfully defended legal challenges to the agency’s authority to impose Medicare program exclusion of individuals for conduct related to health care fraud.• Conducted settlement negotiations and mediation in a civil/criminal False Claims Act and program exclusion cases in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of California and Southern District of Florida. • Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (S.D. Fla.), 2007-2008. Prepared for and participatedin civil enforcement actions in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.• Received Exceptional Performance Award

• Lead counsel in hearings and trials before ALJs and the Departmental Appeals Board in administrative enforcement actions involving allegations of the falsification or fabrication of scientific data in research funded by grants from National Institutes of Health. Lead counsel or junior counsel in two of the most significant administrative law cases in the last 25 years in the Department’s history. • Represented agency in civil False Claims Act involving scientific fraud cases. Lead counsel in the successful defense of ORI before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Vermont and the District of Maryland in cases involving the agency’s legal authority to impose administrative sanctions in scientific misconduct cases. Argued the subsequent appeal in one of these cases before the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.• Received Superior Achievement Award (rarely awarded)

Represented corporate clients in government contract negotiations andlitigation before the Board of Contract Appeals, insurance coverage cases involving toxic dumping of chemicals, and other litigation matters. Conducted legal research and drafted memoranda/court pleadings.

• Represented corporate clients in a civil False Claims Act case, bankruptcyproceedings, and other litigation matters. Conducted legal research and drafted memoranda/court pleadings.

Conducted legal research and drafted judicial decisions for the judge’s review andapproval on a wide range of complex criminal and civil legal issues.• Drafted 152 page judicial decision after a six-week bench trial. The case involved allegations of patent infringement of an invention relating to knee and hip replacement devices that used an implant for bone tissue having a dense metal base coated with a porous metallic surface layer. The Judge signed the decision as drafted. American Standard Inc. v. Pfizer Inc., 722 F. Supp. 86 (D. Del. 1989).