Rewards for reporting Medicaid fraud.

(1) The Department of Law Enforcement or director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit shall, subject to availability of funds, pay a reward to a person who furnishes original information relating to and reports a violation of the state’s Medicaid fraud laws, unless the person declines the reward, if the information and report:

(a) Is made to the Office of the Attorney General, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Department of Health, or the Department of Law Enforcement;

(b) Relates to criminal fraud upon Medicaid funds or a criminal violation of Medicaid laws by another person; and

(c) Leads to a recovery of a fine, penalty, or forfeiture of property.

(2) The reward may not exceed the lesser of 25 percent of the amount recovered or $500,000 in a single case.

(3) The reward shall be paid from the Operating Trust Fund from moneys collected pursuant to s. 68.085.

(4) A person who receives a reward pursuant to this section is not eligible to receive any funds pursuant to the Florida False Claims Act for Medicaid fraud for which a reward is received pursuant to this section.

(5) Notwithstanding s. 68.085(3), the 10 percent of any remaining proceeds deposited into the Operating Trust Fund from an action based on a claim of funds from the state Medicaid program shall be allocated in the following manner:

(a) Fifty percent of such moneys shall be used to fund rewards for reporting Medicaid fraud pursuant to this section.

(b) The remaining 50 percent of such moneys shall be used by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to fund its investigations of potential violations of s. 68.082 and any related civil actions.