PACS Group
The recent fraud allegations against PACS Group, Inc. offer a disturbing glimpse into the broader systemic financial exploitation that plagues the nursing home industry. A forensic report released by Hindenburg Research accuses PACS Group of manipulating COVID-era waivers to improperly access SNF Medicare benefits. That is horrible.
These waivers, intended to streamline care for patients during a global crisis, relaxed certain Medicare requirements, including certain prerequisites for SNF admission, which many facilities chose to exploit. PACS is accused of abusing these waivers to admit patients who did not require skilled nursing, and therefore gaining unwarranted Medicare reimbursements.
Due to inflated claims for thousands of patients across its facilities, PACS successfully created the illusion of profit, a strategy that allegedly accounted for over 100% of its net income from 2020 to 2023. Following the release of the Hindenburg report, PACS Group’s stock plummeted nearly 33%, triggering automatic trading halts and the allegations have also prompted legal actions.
This example just underscores the broader issue of financial exploitation of the taxpayer supported system. Waste, fraud, and abuse are rampant and complicated. I wonder how many other facilities have engaged in similar practices.
Whether it’s through fraudulent Medicare claims or exploiting ADPs, players in the nursing home industry too often find themselves putting profit over people, and it doesn’t bite them in the ass as much as it should. It’s corporations like PACS that make it harder for the compliant and ethical facilities to get the help and funding they need to truly improve care for one of America’s most vunerable populations.
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