Elara Caring Agrees to Pay $4.2 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations That It Billed Medicare for Ineligible Hospice Patients

U.S. Department of Justice

Elara Caring, and its wholly owned subsidiaries JHH/CIMA Holdings Inc., CIMA Healthcare Management Inc., CIMA Hospice of Texarkana L.L.C., CIMA Hospice of East Texas L.L.C. and CIMA Hospice of El Paso L.P., have agreed to pay $4.2 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false claims and knowingly retaining overpayments for the care of hospice patients in Texas who were ineligible for the Medicare hospice benefit because they were not terminally ill. 

“The hospice benefit under Medicare provides critical services to vulnerable patients,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will continue to ensure that this benefit is used to assist those who need it, and not to line the pockets of those who seek to abuse it.”

The settlement resolves allegations that Elara Caring’s Texarkana, Texas, location, which previously operated as CIMA Hospice, knowingly submitted false claims for hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible for the hospice benefit because they were not terminally ill.  The patients at issue in the settlement were at the Texarkana location between 2014 and 2019 and in 2020. The settlement also resolves allegations regarding two patients at other Texas locations between 2015 and 2021. The settlement further resolves allegations that Elara Caring knowingly and improperly concealed or avoided obligations to repay overpayments for these patients…

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