NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee nursing home has signed a $30 million settlement to resolve a Medicare fraud lawsuit filed by two whistleblowers.
One whistleblower, Kristi Emerson, tells The Tennessean she worked at Signature Healthcare of Columbia for more than a decade. She says by 2015, pressure from corporate managers was intolerable and included demands that hours of therapy be performed daily even if it was not necessary for a patient.
The lawsuit was unsealed Monday by a federal judge in Nashville. It accused the nursing home of artificially inflating therapy time to maximize profits.
Prosecutors say in the $30 million settlement that the total fraud was roughly $244 million. Signature did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.
The Louisville, Kentucky-based company operates 115 nursing home facilities across half the country, including seven in Tennessee.
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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com
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