Gentiva Agrees to $19.4 Million Settlement Over Alleged Kickbacks and Fraudulent Claims

A multi-state hospice home health provider, Kindred at Home, now known as Gentiva, has agreed to pay $19.4 million to settle allegations of paying kickbacks and knowingly billing federal health programs for treating non-terminally ill patients.

The allegations, brought forward by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the state of Tennessee, claim that Kindred filed false claims to Medicare and Medicaid across its operations in Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Texas. The settlement agreement was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Under the terms of the agreement, the federal government will receive over $18.9 million, Tennessee will receive $448,000, and Ohio will receive more than $23,000.

The case resolves claims made under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by nine former Kindred employees, who will receive an undetermined amount, according to a DOJ press release on Wednesday.

The DOJ alleged that Kindred was aware of the overbilling to Medicare and Medicaid but did not voluntarily return the payments, and at times, intentionally concealed the overbilling. From 2010 to February 2020, Kindred knowingly filed false claims while operating under various entities, including Avalon and SouthernCare.

Additionally, between October 2016 and October 2022, Alabama-based SouthernCare New Beacon Hospice allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying a consulting physician to refer patients to its hospice program. The DOJ acknowledged that SouthernCare self-disclosed these alleged violations.

“The hospice benefit under Medicare and other federal healthcare programs provides critical services to some of the most vulnerable patients,” stated Brian Boynton, head of the DOJ’s Civil Division, in the release. “The department will ensure that this important benefit is used to assist those who need it, and not as an opportunity to line the pockets of those who seek to abuse it.”

Gentiva, which reached the settlement without a determination of liability, was not immediately available for comment.

By fLEXI tEAM