STG Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. and two of its senior executives, Paschal “Pat” Gilley and Mathew Gilley, have agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve allegations that STG Healthcare, operating as Interim Healthcare of Atlanta, submitted or caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for patients who were not eligible for the hospice benefit and that resulted from STG Healthcare’s provision of unlawful payments to a referring physician in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statutes. The government alleges that, between 2013 and 2017, STG Healthcare submitted claims for patients who were not terminally ill. Specifically, the government contends that STG Healthcare’s business practices—setting aggressive goals for enrolling patients and failing to supervise properly the admission practices of its staff and medical directors—resulted in the submission of claims for ineligible patients. The government also alleges that STG Healthcare submitted or caused the submission of claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services provided to individuals referred by a physician who STG Healthcare paid to be a “back up” medical director, but who did not serve as a legitimate hospice physician. The settlement resolves allegations filed by Serita Samuel and Miranda Eskridge, former STG Healthcare employees, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which authorizes private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in the recovery.
