U.S. Attorney files $1 million qui tam suit against nursing home operator
Federal authorities have filed a qui tam suit seeking $1 million in fraudulent claims plus civil penalties against a company that operated five nursing homes in the St. Louis area, saying that the facilities provided what amounted to "worthless" health care.
The suit claims that Cathedral Rock Corp., based in Fort Worth, Texas, committed Medicaid and Medicare fraud when it billed the government for care it didn't provide, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said in a statement to the press.
Investigators, who intervened after two nurses filed a "whistle-blower" lawsuit in 2003, found numerous residents at the facilities suffered from dehydration, weight loss, and preventable bed sores that eventually led to amputations.
The two nurses, Michele Kimball and Anna Juelfs, who filed the original suit, "qui tam action" could receive 15 percent to 25 percent of the damages recovered in the action, according to U.S. Attorney Hanaway.
Click Here to read more about the case in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
