Saratoga Center for Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Care is alleged to have violated the False Claims Act.
A now-closed upstate New York nursing home that submitted false claims to Medicaid and left residents to suffer “deplorable conditions and neglect” agreed to pay more than $7 million in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and the New York State Office of the Attorney General.
The former landlord and operators of Saratoga Center for Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Care in Ballston Spa, New York, will pay $7,168,000 to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act, according to a Justice Department announcement.
"Nursing homes should protect the health and well-being of every resident. That did not happen at Saratoga Center," U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman for the Northern District of New York said in a statement.
Saratoga Center has been closed since an investigation was initiated in February 2021, which found that in 2014, after a months-long vetting, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) approved Alan "Ari" Schwartz and Jeffery Vegh to operate the facility alongside Leon Melohn, the landlord. This license gave Sschwarts and Vegh the non-delegable duty to oversee the nursing home’s operation. However, in 2017 Melohn, due to a financial dispute, required them to surrender control of the facility and replaced them with one of his business associates and Jack Jaffa. The new operators never obtained the necessary NYSDOH licensure.
Jaffa and Melohn's business associate operated Saratoga Center from February 2017 until its closing in February 2021. In that time, the investigation found the facility delivered “worthless” services to residents, knowingly submitting false claims for payment for Medicaid, the Justice Department said.
The facility's physical condition also deteriorated to the extent of violating federal and state regulations. In addition to being inadequately staffed, residents suffered medication errors, unnecessary falls, and pressure ulcers. There were also inconsistencies in hot water being maintained throughout the facility, its linen inventory, and its disposal of solid waste.
In 2019, Saratoga Center was placed on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Special Focus Facility list—a list of the worst-performing nursing homes in the United States—remaining on there until its closure.
"We trust nursing homes to protect New Yorkers during their most vulnerable days, but the owners, unlicensed operator, and landlord of Saratoga Center repeatedly violated the law for their own benefit," Letitia James, New York attorney general, , said in a statement.
"Instead of providing the quality care and compassion that residents deserved,” she said, “the owners of Saratoga Center deceived regulators and left residents to suffer deplorable conditions and neglect."
“Instead of providing the quality care and compassion that residents deserved, the owners of Saratoga Center deceived regulators and left residents to suffer deplorable conditions and neglect.”
Letitia James, New York attorney general
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Saratoga Center faced charges of submitting false claims to Medicaid and neglecting patients.
After a financial dispute, the nursing home's initial operators were replaced with new operators who never obtained the necessary licensure.
Saratoga Center has been closed since February 2021, and was listed among the nation’s worst-performing nursing homes.