Evercare Hospice Settles False Medicare Claims for $18M; Whistleblower Award TBD

Evercare Hospice and Palliative Care has agreed to pay $18 million to settle allegations that it submittedor caused the submission of false claims to federal health care program Medicare, for hospice care for patients who were not eligible because they were not terminally ill, the U.S. Department of Justice announced yesterday.  Evercare, now known as Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, is a Minnesota-based provider of hospice care in Arizona, Colorado and other states across the United States.

Hospice care is special end-of-life care for terminally ill patients intended to comfort the dying.  When a terminally ill Medicare patient elects hospice, Medicare no longer covers traditional medical care designed to improve or heal the patient.  Only Medicare patients who have a life expectancy of six months or less are considered terminally ill and eligible for the Medicare hospice benefit. 

This settlement resolves a lawsuit brought by the government alleging that Evercare knowingly submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to Medicare for hospice care for Medicare patients who were not eligible for the Medicare hospice benefit because Evercare’s medical records did not support that they were terminally ill.  The government’s complaint alleged that Evercare’s business practices were designed to maximize the number of patients for whom it could bill Medicare without regard to whether the patients were eligible for and needed hospice.  These business practices allegedly included discouraging doctors from recommending that ineligible patients be discharged from hospice and failing to ensure that nurses accurately and completely documented patients’ conditions in the medical records. 

The allegations resolved by this settlement arose from whistleblower lawsuits initially filed by former employees of Evercare under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.  The Act allows the United States to intervene in the lawsuits, which it did in this case.  The share to be awarded in this case has not yet been determined. 

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.