PHILADELPHIA — A Lower Merion Township skilled nursing facility must pay more than $800,000 to resolve False Claims Act liability arising from billing of rehabilitation therapy, according to federal prosecutors.

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced on Friday that Old Man’s Home of Philadelphia, doing business as Saunders House in the Wynnewood section of Lower Merion, will pay $819,640 to settle claims that the skilled nursing facility provided medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy to residents to maximize revenue, and without prioritizing clinical needs.

“Focusing on profits over the needs of individual patients violates the public trust and creates a potential for harm of some of the most vulnerable among us,” Romero said in a news release. “It also shifts taxpayers’ funds away from the vital services of law-abiding therapy providers.”

The settlement resolves allegations in a whistleblower complaint filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under provisions of the False Claims Act. Those provisions allow private citizens to bring civil actions on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery.

“We thank the whistleblower for helping to make the government aware of these allegations. We also thank Saunders House for fully cooperating with the government’s investigation — that cooperation was taken into account when determining an appropriate resolution of these allegations,” Romero added.

The whistleblower, a physical therapist...

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