May 32024
DOJ Reaches Settlement with Nursing Home Provider Based on Alleged Abuse of COVID-19 Waiver
Last week, DOJ and the State of California reached a $7,084,000 settlement with a California-based nursing home chain and two executives for allegedly misusing a pandemic-era waiver program by routinely submitting claims to Medicare for nursing home residents that did not have a qualifying prior hospital stay. This settlement is noteworthy because it is one of the first FCA settlements involving alleged abuse of this particular Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) COVID-19 waiver. See United States and State of California ex rel. Bay Area Whistleblower Partners v. Renew Health Group, LLC, No. 2:20-cv-09472-CBM-AS (C.D. Cal. Oct. 14, 2020).