Lifewatch Services, Inc., an Illinois-based company, recently agreed to pay the United States $18.5 Million to resolve False Claims Act allegations filed by two separate whistleblowers. In addition to the settlement, Lifewatch entered into a comprehensive Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General.
The whistleblower complaints alleged that Lifewatch improperly billed Medicare for ambulatory cardiac telemetry (“ACT”) services. Continue reading
In 2009, House Bill 1 amended the Ohio Certificate of Need (“CON”) laws to permit inter-county relocations of long-term care beds under certain circumstances. Historically, Ohio CON laws prohibited relocating long-term care beds across county lines. Despite this amendment, the process to accomplish an inter-county relocation of beds remains heavily regulated, and in most cases must be commenced during brief windows of time set forth by the Ohio Department of Health. Continue reading
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Posted in Certificate of Need, Continuing Care, Health Care, Health Care Providers, Long Term Care, Nursing Facility, Nursing Home, Ohio, Post Acute Care, Regulation, Rehabilitation, Skilled Nursing Facility
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced on November 30th that a Cincinnati woman has been sentenced to 19.5 years in prison for multiple counts of theft from developmentally disabled persons in a group home. Yvonne Alexander forged documents to gain control of funds from residents and fraudulently obtained Medicaid funds. This prosecution was a combined effort of the Ohio Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Unit, the Cincinnati Police Department and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. Continue reading
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Posted in Fraud and Abuse, Group Home, Health Care, Health Care Providers, Medicaid, Ohio, Post Acute Care
Last Friday, we posted CMS’ issuance on smoking safety to alert providers to this new survey and certification guidance. A copy of that post can be found here —->CMS Smoking Guidance. To highlight the concerns of providers and regulators related to smoking safety, an Ohio immediate jeopardy citation was issued in July, 2011 regarding a fire started by a resident in an Ohio facility. Cited at F323-Accident Hazards, the Ohio facility was cited for failure to appropriately supervise a resident and placing an entire facility at risk of death due to fire. Continue reading
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Posted in General, Long Term Care, Nursing Facility, Nursing Home, Ohio, Skilled Nursing Facility
Benesch
Ari J. Markenson, JD, MPH
Janet K. Feldkamp RN BSN LNHA CHC JD
Robert W. Markette, Jr. CHC
W. Clifford Mull
Frank W. Carsonie
Daniel J. O'Brien
Benjamin J. Parsons
Meredith L. Rosenbeck
Alan E. Schabes
