Diversicare Healthcare Services and two occupational therapists have agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to resolve claims that the provider “condoned” therapists who clocked into nursing homes and then left to provide services elsewhere, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
A former Diversicare employee brought the charges as a whistleblower, alleging that therapy assistants Kellie S. Lemons and Charles M. James falsified occupational therapy records when they worked at Diversicare’s Canterbury facility in Phenix City, AL. The assistants left the nursing home and “moonlighted” for local home health companies while still technically on the clock for Diversicare, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
The complaint alleged that Diversicare “permitted and even condoned these practices” and knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare for reimbursement for services not provided.
In all, the three parties will pay $1,378,000 to resolve the False Claims allegations, which represents damages three times the loss caused by the invalid claims and a penalty between roughly $13,500 and $27,000 for each. No breakdown of those fines was provided.
Diversicare is a group of private companies providing long-term care and rehabilitation services in approximately 43 locations across Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Kansas.
Once a publicly traded company, Diversicare was bought in 2021 by DAC Acquisitions, a limited liability company managed...
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