Atlantic Home Health Care to pay $10M over energy program false claims

A multistate home healthcare services provider agreed to pay nearly $10 million as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) addressing the alleged submission of false claims to the Department of Labor’s Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP).

Atlantic Home Health Care violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting claims for payment to the EEOICP for nursing and personal care when its employees were not physically present at patients’ homes, the DOJ said in a press release Friday.

Of the settlement total, approximately $7 million will be restitution, according to the settlement agreement. Tonya Cass, a former corporate administrator and director of human resource administration and management at Atlantic Home Health Care, will receive about $1.7 million as a whistleblower acting under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.