Providence, RI (PRWEB) October 25, 2016
A Massachusetts-based Nursing Home Operator and its Director of Long Term Care will pay $2.5 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Massachusetts-based Whittier Health Network, Inc. submitted false claims to Medicare for patients who were provided therapy at the Whittier skilled nursing facilities. The whistleblower will receive a reward of 30% of the settlement or $750,000 for her role in bringing the fraud allegations to the government’s attention and assisting the government in its investigation.
The settlement resolves the “qui tam” claims brought by the whistleblower, a former employee of Therapy Resources Management (“TRM”), a Massachusetts-based rehabilitation therapy company that provided therapy services at the Whittier facilities. The case was filed under seal in 2013. The lawsuit alleged that Whittier submitted inflated bills to Medicare for therapy services that had not been provided to patients in order to increase profits.
Whistleblower attorney Louise A. Herman, who represented the whistleblower said, “We deeply appreciate the outstanding efforts of the attorneys and investigators in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, as well as the Department of Justice, who worked on this case and achieved this resolution. My client is a remarkably courageous individual. By speaking out, she helped the government recover significant taxpayer dollars and, most significantly, helped to protect vulnerable, elderly patients.”
The lawsuit, United States ex rel. Morgan-Lee v. The Whittier Health Network, Inc., et al., Case No. 13-cv-11997 DPW (D. Mass), was filed on the whistleblower’s behalf by The Law Offices of Louise A. Herman.
For more information, contact Attorney Louise Herman at the Law Offices of Louise A. Herman, 321 South Main Street, Suite 300, Providence, Rhode Island 02903; by email at lherman(at)lhermanlaw(dot)com; by phone at (401) 277-4110 or by accessing the firm’s website at http://www.lhermanlaw.com.