Senior Justice Law Firm and the US Department of Justice Joined
Forces to Successfully Settle the Largest Nursing Home Covid
Fraud Case to Date
SAN
FRANCISCO, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --
The United States of America and
ReNew Health Group LLC have settled a nursing home whistleblower
claim involving allegations that the nursing home chain submitted
false Medicare claims.
We need transparency and accountability in
our nursing homes. Elderly patients are not widgets that a private
ownership group can profit from. They are vulnerable human beings
that deserve protection. — David
Brevda, Partner, Senior Justice Law Firm
In a landmark settlement, Renew Health has agreed to pay
$7 million to resolve claims under
the False Claims Act for knowingly submitting false Medicare claims
for its nursing home residents.
This fraudulent conduct was uncovered by Senior Justice Law Firm
partners David Brevda and
Michael Brevda, while investigating
a nursing home injury case. Senior Justice Law Firm then
represented the whistleblower relators in the subsequent qui tam
action, successfully recovering a $7,084,000 civil settlement.
COVID MEDICARE FRAUD EXPLAINED
Medicare is the primary payor for most of the nation's nursing
home beds. Normally, Medicare requires a 3+ day hospital stay
before a nursing home can get reimbursed for skilled nursing
care.
However, during the Covid pandemic, Medicare lifted this 3+
hospital day requirement and allowed nursing homes to get
reimbursement immediately on Covid patients. Some nursing home
operators knowingly misused the emergency Covid waiver and
submitted false claims for nursing home residents.
In the Renew case, the whistleblowers alleged that,
after learning of the emergency change to Medicare's Covid policy,
ReNew Health falsely told Medicare that many residents in their
nursing homes needed skilled care based on the possibility that
they were exposed to Covid. This was in violation of the terms of
the COVID-19 waiver program.
HOW SENIOR JUSTICE LAW FIRM UNCOVERS NURSING HOME
FRAUD
The specialized nursing home abuse attorneys at Senior Justice
Law Firm handle injury and wrongful death claims against healthcare
facilities. Even though the firm's cases involve individual
injuries like bed sores or broken bones, the investigation always
focuses on a potential larger cause for the harm.
Senior Justice Law Firm attorneys actively search for corporate
misconduct. This can mean comparing staffing data, budgets, related
party transactions, and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements in an
effort to unearth a larger corporate conspiracy. Speaking with
former employees about suspicious corporate behavior also can lead
to uncovering corporate nursing home Medicare
fraud.
In this case, attorney David
Brevda was instrumental in piecing together the nursing home
chain's alleged conspiracy to defraud Medicare.
Utilizing the firm's contacts at the US Department of Justice,
Senior Justice Law Firm is uniquely positioned to expose
company-wide fraud and work hand-in-hand with the US
government in prosecuting qui tam cases.
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE RENEW QUI TAM CASE
The Renew Medicare Covid waiver case underscores the importance
of rigorous oversight to safeguard public resources and uphold the
integrity of our long term care system.
By fostering a culture of integrity and vigilance, we can ensure
that the trust given to nursing homes is not misplaced. The pursuit
of justice must prevail over deception and fraud.
In the end, the true measure of our commitment to the principles
of honesty and fairness lies not in the settlements reached or the
penalties imposed, but in the actions we take to prevent similar
injustices from occurring in the future.
WHY NURSING HOME WHISTLEBLOWER CASES MATTER
Nursing home abuse and neglect is rooted in corporate
fraud. We can only protect residents from injury if we
clean up the long term care system and expose this
fraud.
"Every nursing home injury case offers an opportunity to analyze
how the corporate parent company operates its business. We are
always looking to uncover fraud and work with our
partners at the DOJ. As we get deeper into litigation in a nursing
home injury case, we hire forensic accounting experts, private
investigators, and speak with former employees. We believe that an
individual injury case can make a difference, but company-wide qui
tam actions can generate transformative waves of positive change."
- Michael Brevda, Managing Partner,
Senior Justice Law Firm.
The claims settled by the United
States & California are
only allegations. There was no determination of liability. The case
is captioned United States and
State of California ex rel. Bay
Area Whistleblower Partners v. ReNew Health Group LLC et al., No.
2:20-cv-09472 (C.D. Cal.).
Media Contact
Lori Shifflett, Senior Justice
Law Firm, 1 888-375-9998, media@seniorjustice.com,
https://seniorjustice.com/
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SOURCE Senior Justice Law Firm