by Ben Vernia | November 23rd, 2015
On October 29, the Department of Justice announced that it was intervening in three whistleblower cases, filed in the Middle District of Tennessee, alleging that the skilled nursing home company, SavaSeniorCare, submitted claims to federal health care programs for medically unnecessary services. According to DOJ’s press release:
The government has intervened in three False Claims Act lawsuits and filed a consolidated complaint against SavaSeniorCare LLC and related entities (Sava) alleging that Sava knowingly and routinely submitted false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not medically reasonable and necessary, the Department of Justice announced today. Sava is one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, operating approximately 200 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in 23 states.
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The government’s complaint alleges that Sava exerted significant pressure on its SNFs to meet unrealistic financial goals that resulted in the provision of medically unreasonable, unnecessary and unskilled services to Medicare patients. Sava allegedly set these aggressive, prospective corporate targets for the highest Medicare reimbursement rates to significantly increase Sava’s revenues without regard for its patients’ actual clinical needs and then pressured its staff to meet those goals. Sava also allegedly delayed discharging patients from its facilities, even though the patients were medically ready to be discharged, in order to increase its Medicare payments.
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The three consolidated lawsuits were filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery. The False Claims Act also permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in these cases. Under the Act, a defendant that is found liable is subject to damages equal to three times the government’s loss plus applicable penalties.
