Fairfax Nursing Center Pays $700,000 Settlement for Submitting False Claims for Medicare Reimbursement

Fairfax Nursing Center (FNC), a skilled nursing facility in Fairfax, Virginia, and its owner have agreed to pay $700,000 to settle allegations of submitting false claims to Medicare for non-reimbursable rehabilitation therapy services. The False Claims Act lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by two former FNC therapists and one former contract therapist.

The lawsuit alleges that between January 2007 and December 2010, in order to capture higher reimbursements from Medicare, FNC provided excessive, medically unnecessary, or otherwise non-reimbursable physical, occupational, and speech therapy to thirty-seven Medicare patients. Furthermore, the services that were rendered were unreasonable and completely unnecessary for the treatment of the patients’ conditions.

Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, stated:

“Today’s settlement is another example of the Department’s efforts to hold skilled nursing facilities accountable for the rehabilitation therapy services they deliver to some of the most vulnerable in our society… The provision of excessive and medically unnecessary therapy services will not be tolerated.”

The Employment Law Group® law firm’s whistleblower attorneys have helped many clients file suit against employers that fraudulently bill the U.S. government, and have established favorable precedents under the retaliation provision of the False Claims Act.

Tagged: Fraud Types, Medicare Fraud