United States Intervenes in False Claims Act Suit Against Virginia Medicaid Providers

The United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia have intervened in a False Claims Act suit in the Western District of Virginia against the Medicaid providers Universal Health Services Inc., Keystone Marion LLC and Keystone Education and Youth Services LLC, the Justice Department announced today. They did business as the Keystone Marion Youth Center, a residential facility in Marion, Va., that receives Medicaid funds to provide psychiatric counseling and treatment for boys ages 11-17.

This False Claims Act lawsuit was filed by several former therapists who worked at the Marion residential facility. The suit alleges that defendants provided sub-standard care to adolescents in violation of federal and state Medicaid requirements, falsified records to cover up their serious violations and filed false Medicaid claims. Under the False Claims Act, a health care provider that submits false or fraudulent claims to a federal health care program is liable for three times the government’s damages, plus a civil penalty for each false claim.

For more information:  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-civ-1191.html