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(Reuters) - Hospice care provider Care Alternatives has defeated a whistleblower lawsuit accusing it of routinely admitting patients who were not eligible for hospice care and billing Medicare for them.
U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchez in Camden, New Jersey, ruled on Wednesday that the plaintiffs failed to support their accusations that the government had paid the company's claims because of inadequate medical documentation. The case had previously been dismissed but was revived last year by an appeals court.
Care Alternatives had no immediate comment. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, former Care Alternatives employees, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The plaintiffs said in their 2008 lawsuit that the New Jersey-based hospice care provider violated the False Claims Act by admitting Medicare patients to hospice care based on physician evaluations that were not supported by medical evidence.
The False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to file lawsuits on behalf of the government to recover money paid out based on false claims and receive a share of any recovery. The government may intervene in such cases but did not do so against Care Alternatives.
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