Local whistleblowers help in federal hospice investigation

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to clarify that the local facility is in Boardman.

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – The parent company that operates a hospice provider in Boardman has agreed to a settlement in a federal lawsuit alleging that the local location, along with others in the southern part of the country, defrauded the government, according to federal prosecutors.

Gentiva, formerly known as Kindred at Home, has agreed to pay $19 million to resolve allegations that it and other entities of Gentiva knowingly submitted, or caused to be submitted, false claims for hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible for hospice benefits under Medicare and other federal health care programs because the patients were not terminally ill, according to Department of Justice.

Gentiva’s hospice operations, headquartered in Atlanta, include entities that previously operated Kindred at Home hospice locations under the names Avalon, Kindred, SouthernCare and SouthernCare New Beacon.

The Employment Law Group said in a news release that there were 20 whistleblowers in the case, including two from the Youngstown area involving SouthernCare, who helped to recover about $2.13 million in alleged fraudulent billing.

“They were advocates for ethical medicine, even when it wasn’t easy. This settlement is a fitting recognition of their professionalism and their bravery,”  said Janel Quinn, a principal of The Employment Law Group.

The complaint was filed in 2021 alleging that the practice went on from 2010 until February 2020, and also alleges kickbacks to consulting physicians at its location in Alabama.

The settlement also resolves allegations that those Kindred, SouthernCare and SouthernCare New Beacon locations knowingly and improperly concealed or avoided obligations to repay the hospice claims.

The Medicaid program is funded jointly by the state and federal governments. As a result of the settlement, the federal government will receive $18,956,151.32, the State of Tennessee will receive $448,800 and the State of Ohio will receive $23,618.68.

No determination of liability was reached in the case, and the defendant has admitted no wrongdoing.

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