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he U.S. Attorney's Office announced Monday that it filed a civil complaint on Friday alleging that a nursing home in Erlanger provided worthless services resulting in the death of several residents.

The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that Villaspring Health Care and Rehabilitation, Villaspring's parent company, Carespring Health Care Management, and its owner billed Medicare and Medicaid for services purportedly provided to its residents, despite knowing that the services were so inadequate that they were essentially worthless.

This is the first suit filed in Kentucky in which the government alleges that a nursing home defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by submitting bills for reimbursement for providing systemically poor resident care. The complaint accuses the defendants of violating the federal False Claims Act, committing common law fraud, and unjust enrichment. If found liable, the defendants would face financial penalties between $5,500 to $11,000 per false claim. The defendants would also have to repay Medicare and Medicaid three times the amount of the government's loss for the fraud.

"Today's filing represents an important milestone in the effort to insure effective care for Medicare and Medicaid recipients in long term care facilities," U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey said. " In appropriate cases, the False Claims Act will be an important tool to protect both the taxpayers and federal healthcare program beneficiaries."

The complaint alleges that from 2004 to 2008, numerous patients suffered serious injuries resulting from the worthless care; five of those patients died. The alleged inadequate care included failure to follow physicians orders, failure to treat wounds and pressure sores, failure to update resident care plans, and failure to monitor the blood sugar levels of diabetic residents.

"Investigators from my office worked diligently on this case to help protect the residents of this nursing home," Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said. "We are pleased that United States Attorney Harvey has filed this action to help achieve that goal and we look forward to working with his office throughout this process. We will continue to investigate abuse and neglect in Medicaid-funded facilities and take action to protect Kentucky's vulnerable citizens."

Carespring Health Care Management released a statement about the charges late Monday morning, saying, This stems from an allegation that is 6 years old. The Kentucky Attorney General has already investigated this thoroughly and closed the case without bringing any charges. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General, have also looked into these allegations and were satisfied with and accepted Villaspring's response. We do not feel that the government's case has any merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously. The Federal Government is alleging we didn't provide services that we did in fact provide. Villaspring has consistently provided high quality care to the Resident's of Kenton County and looks forward to doing so in the future."

Villaspring - Complaint.pdf