ALBANY, New York (WWNY) - Centers Healthcare - which owns or controls skilled nursing facilities in four states, including New York - will pay more than $6 million to settle allegations the company made false statements to Medicare.

One of the 15 facilities Centers Healthcare operates in New York is in Carthage, on West Street.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office Tuesday, 44 facilities, including the 15 in New York, submitted false statements to Medicare as part of the cost reports they had to file.

Skilled nursing facilities are required to submit cost reports to the federal government about what they have spent and charged for care.

Federal rules require a skilled nursing facility to include information about its dealings with ‘related organizations,’ - organizations which share a common owner or operator with the skilled nursing facility.

According to the agreement between Centers Healthcare and the government, the cost reports prepared for the facilities made a number of false claims, including in some cases that they had no business dealings with any ‘related organization.’

The government writes in the agreement that “the admitted facts establish that Centers and the 44 facilities, through their senior management, knowingly made false statements material to payment of false claims and omitted material information from its Medicare cost reports.”

The agreement indicates that federal investigators reviewed records from the Carthage facility, along...

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