On June 26, 2019, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted a motion to dismiss a qui tam lawsuit against HCR ManorCare Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Heartland Hospice Services, LLC (collectively, Heartland), involving allegations that Heartland violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by billing for patients that did not qualify for hospice.

The lawsuit, U.S. ex rel. Holloway v. Heartland Hospice Inc. et al., No. 3:10-cv-01875 (N.D. Ohio), was filed in 2010 by a relator who worked for Heartland as a consultant. In dismissing the case with prejudice, the Court found that, among other things, the relator failed to meet the Rule 9(b) requirement in FCA cases to plead with particularity. Although the relator provided a list of patients she determined were not terminally ill and not qualified for hospice, the court found that information was insufficient to demonstrate that Heartland submitted fraudulent claims. The court explained that the patient list “neither describes claims Heartland submitted for the listed patients’ care nor explains why the patients were ineligible for hospice.”

The relator also alleged that Heartland violated the FCA by failing to return overpayments. The court again found that the relator failed to meet the pleading standard as she identified no specific claims or facts showing that patients did not qualify for hospice and therefore that payments for services to those patients were overpayments.

The DOJ previously declined to intervene in the case. The order dismissing the lawsuit is available here.