Atrium Fraud

McKnight’s recently reported that a grand jury indicted the owner/operator of Atrium Health and Senior Living for healthcare fraud, tax fraud and money laundering offenses. The Department of Justice announced CEO Kevin Breslin and KBWB Operations, doing business as Atrium. committed the alleged crimes from January 2015 through September 2018 at 24 skilled nursing and nine assisted living locations.

Breslin and Atrium diverted funds from the Wisconsin facilities to make guaranteed payments to Atrium owners. KBWB Operations billed Medicare for more than $189 million and received more than $49 million in payments. It also alleges that the company billed Medicaid for more than $218 million and received more than $93 million in payments.  The Justice Department said:

“When the defendants obtained money from Medicare and Medicaid, they certified that they would follow all required quality of care standards, but they did not do so. The diversion of funds caused inadequate care of residents, including a shortage of clean diapers, inadequate wound care supplies, inadequate cleaning supplies, and a lack of durable medical equipment and respiratory supplies.”

The indictment also alleges that Breslin and Atrium withheld insurance premiums and 401(k) savings from employees’ paychecks. However, they failed to pay those monies over to the third-party administrators, preventing claims from being paid out and retirement investments from being made.