Home nursing company to pay $9M settlement

Friday, August 10, 2012, Vol. 36, No. 32

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's largest home nursing provider has agreed to pay $9.375 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by the federal government alleging it violated the False Claims Act.

The U.S. attorney's office in Nashville announced the settlement on Friday with James W. Careall and CareAll Management and its related entities.

The lawsuit that was filed in 2009 claimed that CareAll entities submitted eight fraudulent cost reports to support their Medicare billings and that they knowingly hid their relationship between their home health agencies and a management agency.

Stuart Delery, acting assistant attorney general for the civil division of the justice department, said in a statement that the false reporting scheme robbed the Medicare Trust Fund of millions of taxpayer dollars.