SavaSeniorCare settled for $11.2 million plus contingent amounts for billing Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy and grossly substandard skilled nursing services, including understaffing, falls protocol failures, and improper medication administration, from 2008 to 2018.

SavaSeniorCare LLC (Atlanta, GA) — $11.2M Substandard Care / Unnecessary Therapy (2008–2018)

Outcome: Settled for $11.2 million (plus contingent additional payments) for billing Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services and grossly substandard skilled nursing services over a 10-year period; five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement and Independent Monitor imposed.

SavaSeniorCare LLC, an Atlanta-based national skilled nursing facility chain, operated facilities that systematically billed Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were "not reasonable, necessary or skilled," and billed both Medicare and Medicaid for skilled nursing services that were "grossly and materially substandard and/or worthless."

The substandard care allegations were specific and systematic: failing to maintain sufficient staffing in certain facilities to meet residents' needs; failing to follow appropriate pressure ulcer prevention protocols; failing to follow appropriate falls prevention protocols; and failing to appropriately administer medications to residents. These failures ran from January 2008 through December 2018 — a decade of documented deficiencies.

The settlement was announced May 2021. As conditions of resolution: SavaSeniorCare entered into a five-year chain-wide Corporate Integrity Agreement requiring annual independent review of patient stays and paid claims; and engaged an Independent Monitor to review the quality of resident care across facilities. The case arose from qui tam complaints filed by five whistleblower relators.

Primary Source: SavaSeniorCare LLC Agrees to Pay $11.2 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations