In early October 2013, a nursing home
operator in southern California entered into a settlement agreement to pay $48
million to resolve two whistleblower lawsuits filed against it by former
employees of the company. These two lawsuits, United States ex rel.
Patterson v. Ensign Grp., Inc., C.D. Cal., No. 06-cv-6956, unsealed 11/18/13
and United States ex rel. Sanchez v. Ensign Grp., Inc., C.D.
Cal., No. 06-cv-643, unsealed 11/18/13, alleged that from
January 1999 through August 2011, six nursing facilities operated by the
California-based Ensign Group (1) submitted false claims to the federal
Medicare program for physical, occupation, and speech therapy services to
beneficiaries that were not medically necessary and (2) allegedly submitted
claims for services that were not provided. The full settlement agreement can
be found here.
For questions, please contact Laura
MacDonald lmacdonald@kdlegal.com.