Brentwood Nursing Home Operator Sued By Feds

NASHVILLE, TN — A Brentwood-based nursing home operator is being sued by the federal government for filing false Medicare and TennCare claims while providing "substandard" care, including the overuse of psychotropic medication and physical restraints, at several of its Middle Tennessee facilities.

U.S. Attorney David Rivera announced Wednesday that his office had filed a False Claims Act suit against Vanguard Healthcare, six of its facilities and its Director of Operations.

The lawsuit claims the defendants submitted claims for skilled nursing home services that were either non-existent or "grossly substandard" and that pre-admission forms included forged signatures purportedly from doctors and nurses.

The United States' complaint alleges that between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2015, five Vanguard facilities — Boulevard Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Murfreesboro; Crestview Health and Rehabilitation in Nashville; the now-closed Imperial Gardens Health and Rehabilitation in Madison; Glen Oaks Health and Rehabilitation in Shelbyville; and Poplar Point Health and Rehabilitation in Memphis —failed to provide even the most basic skilled nursing services to their residents. In particular, the suit says there were chronic staffing and supply shortages, failure to provide infection control, failure to administer prescribed medication, failure to provide wound care, failure to adequately manage residents’ pain, and unnecessarily psychotropic medications to residents and using unnecessary physical restraints on residents. Residents of the facilities suffered from bedsores, falls, dehydration and malnutrition.

The government alleges Mark Miller, who was the Director of Operations for Vanguard from September 2011 through August 2014, knew about the shortcomings in care but failed to correct the problems.

The United States’ complaint also alleges that from September 2012 through April 2014, the Boulevard Terrace, Glen Oaks, Imperial, Manchester and Poplar Point facilities fraudulently submitted falsified pre-admission forms to TennCare, in order to receive payments from TennCare, which the company was ineligible to receive.

Vanguard filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.

“Our seniors rely on the Medicare and Medicaid programs to help care for them with dignity and respect,” said Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. “It is critically important that we confront nursing home operators who put their own economic gain over the needs of their residents. Operators who bill Medicare and Medicaid while failing to provide essential services will be held accountable."