Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt, with tThe United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa has announced a settlement agreement, and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has entered into a corporate integrity agreement, with Bethany Lutheran Homes, Inc., a skilled nursing facility in Council Bluffs. The settlements resolves allegations of billing Medicare for medically unnecessary physical, occupational and speech therapy service.

Bethany Lutheran Homes has paid the United States the sum of $675,000 to settle the allegations, and entered into a corporate integrity agreement to ensure future compliance with federal health care program requirements. Klinefeldt says “This settlement
and corporate integrity agreement are the culmination of a two-year investigation and review of Bethany Lutheran Homes’s billing practices to Medicare.” He says his office “Is committed to ensuring the compliance with Medicare requirements and preventing fraud against the United States, and that Klinefedlt believes the settlement will reimburse the United States for past practices committed by Bethany Lutheran, and that The corporate integrity agreement will ensure their future compliance.”

Gerald T. Roy, Special Agent in Charge for the Kansas City Regional Office, added “The collaborative efforts of the agencies involved help ensure the solvency of the Medicare program and protect the beneficiaries that depend on the health care it provides.” The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.