Three Buffalo-area nursing homes will repay $9 million after an investigation found they submitted tens of thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicaid to increase their reimbursement rates, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday.

The facilities — Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns, Safire Rehabilitation of Southtowns and Williamsville Suburban Nursing Home — will pay $6 million to settle Medicaid fraud allegations and an additional $3 million to the federal government for Medicare fraud.

The facilities admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Nursing homes submitted false data, officials say

A joint investigation by the New York Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York found that the facilities submitted false data between July 2016 and December 2020.

According to investigators, the nursing homes artificially increased the amount of rehabilitative services certain residents were reported to need during periods that affected their Medicaid reimbursement rates. During other periods, the facilities reduced reported rehabilitation services for some residents, regardless of their actual needs.

New York's Department of Health uses information submitted by nursing homes to calculate Medicaid reimbursement rates for claims submitted during the following six months.

The false data resulted in the facilities receiving millions of dollars in Medicaid payments at inflated rates, officials...

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