Center at Lowry
Outcome
Center at Lowry settled for $292,594.11 after employing an OIG-excluded registered nurse who provided services that were billed to federal healthcare programs.
Details
Center at Lowry (Denver, CO) — Employment of OIG-Excluded Registered Nurse
Outcome: Settled for $292,594.11 for employing a registered nurse excluded from federal healthcare programs and billing Medicare/Medicaid for services she provided.
Center at Lowry, a healthcare facility in Denver, Colorado, violated the Civil Monetary Penalties Law by employing a registered nurse who had been excluded from participation in federal healthcare programs. Despite the RN's excluded status, the facility allowed her to provide patient care and then billed federal healthcare programs — including Medicare and/or Medicaid — for the services she rendered.
Billing for services provided by excluded individuals is a strict liability violation: the facility is responsible for screening all clinical staff against the OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) and ensuring that no excluded individuals provide items or services paid for by federal healthcare programs. The Center at Lowry's failure to screen or its failure to act on the screening results constitutes a compliance program breakdown.
The OIG reached a settlement with the facility on December 17, 2025, in the amount of $292,594.11 under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law.
Primary Source: Center at Lowry Agreed to Pay $292,000 for Allegedly Violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law by Employing an Excluded Individual
How Crucible Prevents This
Crucible's excluded-individual screening enforcement hooks directly address this violation — an automated OIG LEIE database check run against all clinical staff at hire and monthly thereafter would catch excluded nurses before their first billable service.
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