In a whistleblower lawsuit, Guardian Elder Care Holdings and some related companies have agreed to pay $15.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they knowingly overbilled for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services. “Too much rehabilitation therapy can actually harm patients, just like giving them too many pills or too much medicine,” said U.S. Attorney William McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “And of course it harms taxpayers who foot the bill for unnecessary treatment.” Read a story from The Morning Call and a Department of Justice press release.
In addition, Tenet Healthcare Corporation and its affiliated hospital Desert Regional Medical Center, a general medical and surgical hospital located in Palm Springs, California, have agreed to pay $1.41 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly charging Medicare for implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors. Medicare only reimburses services and treatments that are reasonable and medically necessary. Read a Department of Justice press release.
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