The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville has brought a False Claims Act lawsuit against a Brentwood-based healthcare company, Vanguard Healthcare.
The lawsuit names six Vanguard Healthcare nursing facilities from around Tennessee and charges that the defendants were responsible for the submission of false claims to Medicare and TennCare for skilled nursing home services that were either “grossly substandard” or did not even exist. The suit also charges that the defendants submitted required nursing facility pre-admission forms with forged physician and nurse signatures.
Federal officials have also levied accusations of elder abuse in the company’s nursing home facilities, primarily caused by a lack of adequate care.
Headquartered in Brentwood, Vanguard has 14 long-term care nursing home providers operating around the U.S.
Named in the lawsuit are Boulevard Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Murfreesboro, Crestview Health and Rehabilitation in Nashville, Glen Oaks Health and Rehabilitation in Shelbyville, the now defunct Imperial Gardens Health and Rehabilitation in Madison, Manchester Health Care Center in Manchester and Poplar Point Health and Rehabilitation in Memphis – all operating as Vanguard facilities. The suit also names former Vanguard Director of Operations Mark Miller as a defendant.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office complaint alleges that between Jan. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2015, five of the Vanguard facilities failed to provide the most basic and essential skilled nursing services to their residents. These facilities include Boulevard, Crestview, Imperial, Glen Oaks and Poplar Point.
According to officials, the lack of adequate care resulted in chronic shortages of staffing and critical medical supplies, failure to provide standard infection control, failure to administer medication to residents as prescribed by their physicians, failure to provide wound care as ordered by physicians, failure to adequately manage residents’ pain, and providing unnecessary and excessive psychotropic medications to residents and using unnecessary physical restraints on residents. The suit alleges that as a result of inadequate care, Vanguard residents suffered pressure ulcers, falls, dehydration and malnutrition, among other harms.
“We are committed to combating elderly abuse, neglect and financial exploitation,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “We will continue to hold accountable those who profit from the care of elderly Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, including nursing home operators, while providing non-existent or grossly substandard care.”
The United States’ complaint also alleges that from September 2012 through April 2014, the Boulevard Terrace, Glen Oaks, Imperial, Manchester and Poplar Point facilities fraudulently submitted falsified pre-admission forms to TennCare in order to receive payments from TennCare, which the company was ineligible to receive.
“Our seniors rely on the Medicare and Medicaid programs to help care for them with dignity and respect,” said Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. “It is critically important that we confront nursing home operators who put their own economic gain over the needs of their residents. Operators who bill Medicare and Medicaid while failing to provide essential services will be held accountable.”
On May 6, 2016, the Vanguard corporate entities named in the government’s complaint filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, which were administratively consolidated in U.S. District Court in Nashville.
The claims asserted against the defendants are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
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