On February 1, 2017, an Iowa nursing facility and residential care facility operator entered into a settlement agreement (the Agreement) with DOJ and the State of Iowa for alleged violations of the False Claims Act for the submission of Medicaid claims for “care provided [to] the residents [that] was so grossly substandard such that the care was worthless and effectively without value.”  The Abbey of Le Mars, Inc. (the Abbey), along with several individuals named in the Agreement who are either employees, former employees or individuals with a financial interest in the Abbey, agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the allegations with respect to allegedly “worthless” care provided to sixteen Medicaid patients over the course of approximately six years.

The government alleged that the care provided was “effectively without value” because the Abbey failed to properly address residents’ skin and other conditions that led to inadequate care and additional costs, implemented physical restraints and medications without first attempting other interventions, used anti-psychotic medications to decrease residents’ needs, failed to provide adequate nourishment and provided inadequate bathing and care that led to infections and other complications.

According to the DOJ press release, the investigation was led by the State of Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and is part of DOJ’s broader Elder Abuse Initiative.  As part of such initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa has redirected resources to protecting seniors.

The Agreement only released government claims related to the sixteen Medicaid patients and did not release the Abbey from any criminal liability or liability related to other conduct.  A copy of the Agreement is available here, and a copy of the DOJ press release is available here.