September 16, 2009
UNITED STATES SETTLES WITH TWO BURLINGTON
NURSING HOMES OVER EMPLOYMENT OF BANNED PERSON
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that it has settled potential enforcement litigation against Burlington Health and Rehabilitation Center and Starr Farm Nursing Center relating to their employment of a nurse who had been prohibited from participating in federal health care programs by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS OIG”). As part of the settlements, the homes together paid more than $200,000, and agreed to follow procedures intended to prevent employing excluded persons in the future. At different times, both facilities employed the same excluded nurse, who had previously lost her Vermont nursing license for reasons relating to patient care.
HHS OIG has the authority to exclude persons from participating in various federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. The HHS OIG will exercise its exclusion authority for various reasons, including certain convictions and, as was the case in this matter, state licensing board actions. Once an individual is excluded, Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal health care programs shall not pay for services provided by that individual, and it is unlawful to bill those programs for services provided by such individuals. Health care providers can easily determine whether an employee, or applicant for employment, has been excluded by HHS OIG by accessing the publicly available on-line database through http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/exclusions.asp.
The United States contended that both facilities employed the excluded nurse and billed various federal health care programs for services she ostensibly provided. As part of their respective settlements, Burlington Health and Rehabilitation paid $175,000 and Starr Farm paid more than $40,000. The different amounts reflect the amount of time the excluded nurse worked at each facility, and the portion of the facilities’ revenues attributable to the relevant federal programs. As part of the settlement neither facility admitted liability.
Starr Farm was represented by Thomas Crane, of Boston. Burlington Health and Rehabilitation was represented by Michael Kogut, of Springfield, Massachusetts. The matter was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Drescher.
