February 19, 2020
Guardian Elder Care Holdings, Inc. has agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle claims of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. In a qui tam suit filed in 2015, whistleblowers Philippa Krauss and Julie White alleged that from 2011 to 2017, the Pennsylvania-based nursing home chain pressured its therapists to provide medically unnecessary rehabilitation to patients suffering from dementia or dying in hospice care in order to boost its profits. During the subsequent government investigation, Guardian Elder Care self-disclosed that it had also billed federal healthcare programs for services performed by two excluded individuals. As part of the settlement, Guardian Elder Care has entered into a chain-wide Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, and Krauss and White will split a $2.8 million relator’s share. USAO EDPA; USAO WDPA
Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Home Health and Hospice, Improper Medical Personnel, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medicare, Provider Fraud, SNF, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,