Western MA Nursing Homes In Trouble For Wrongly Billing Patients

I don't want to go off on a rant, fellow Massachusetts residents, but I really don't like people who, for whatever reason, think it's okay to take advantage of (or mistreat in any way) young children and the elderly.

That's why this story really gets my blood boiling. According to WWLP/22 News Springfield, a recent complaint has been filed against almost 20 skilled nursing facilities (SNF) in both Massachusetts and Connecticut for taking advantage of the elderly.

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WWLP reports that both the United States Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office have filed a joint complaint against 19 skilled nursing facilities for the alleged act of fraudulently billing patients.

The complaint was filed under the federal and Massachusetts False Claims Act against not only the 19 SNFs but also the current and former management companies RegalCare Management Group, LLC, and RegalCare Management 2.0.

The complaint's allegations are that RegalCare submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid between 2017 and 2023. These claims were allegedly submitted for services that were either medically unnecessary or unreasonable for the SNF patients.

The joint complaint also calls out a company that works for RegalCare, Stern Therapy Consultants, as a co-conspirator. All told, the scheme cost Medicare and Medicaid millions of dollars in damages.

The lawsuit was originally filed by a whistleblower under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act which allows a private citizen to sue on behalf of the government in order to recover money that was fraudulently obtained.

According to WWLP/22 News, in Massachusetts, RegalCare has skilled nursing facilities in several cities including Greenfield, Holyoke, Lowell, and Worcester. Please visit WWLP's website here for the full story.