Six California skilled nursing facilities, their owner Prema Thekkek, and management company Paksn Inc. agreed to a $45.6 million consent judgment for paying kickbacks to physicians to induce patient referrals to the facilities.

Paksn Inc. / California SNF Network — Physician Kickback Scheme (2023)

Outcome: Six California skilled nursing facilities, owner Prema Thekkek, and management company Paksn Inc. agreed to a $45.6 million consent judgment for paying kickbacks to physicians to induce Medicare patient referrals to their facilities.

Prema Thekkek owned and Paksn Inc. managed a network of six skilled nursing facilities in California, including Park Central Care & Rehabilitation Center (doing business as Aakash, Inc.). The facilities allegedly paid kickbacks to physicians designed to incentivize those physicians to refer their patients to the SNFs for post-acute and long-term care, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act.

By conditioning physician compensation on patient referrals, the facilities corrupted the medical decision-making process and submitted Medicare claims tainted by illegal remuneration. The scheme represented a systematic business model built on illegal patient steering rather than quality care.

The settlement was announced November 15, 2023 by the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition to the $45.6 million payment, Paksn Inc., Aakash Inc., and Thekkek entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the OIG requiring ongoing compliance monitoring and reporting.

Primary Source: DOJ / OIG Enforcement Record