New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday successfully petitioned the courts for a preliminary injunction that requires a nursing home company accused of committing more than $83 million in Medicare and Medicaid fraud to pay for an independent financial monitor.
This comes in addition to a court-appointed monitor assigned earlier in the month to assess the ongoing quality of care at Centers Health Care facilities. At that time, a lawyer for the embattled provider accused James of trying to “weaponize” the monitor by granting him broad powers.
On Friday, a Centers Health Care spokesman reiterated the company’s response in light of the additional, financial monitor, which will scrutinize all transactions and funding flows.
“Centers Health Care prides itself on its commitment to patient care,” repeated Jeffrey Jacomowitz in an email to McKnight’s Friday. “Centers denies the New York Attorney General’s allegations wholeheartedly and attempted to resolve this matter out of court. We will fight these spurious claims with the facts on our side. Beyond that, Centers Health Care will not comment on ongoing litigation.”
James’ office will not be able to use any of the healthcare monitor’s findings in its case against co-owners Kenneth Rozenberg and Daryl Hagler, per orders from Justice Melissa A. Crane. She appointed healthcare compliance specialist David Hoffman as the independent monitor in that instance. It was unclear Friday what latitude prosecutors might have with any discoveries by the financial monitor.
Now, the provider, who has been accused of inappropriately using Medicare and Medicaid funds to help purchase the Israeli airline El Al, among other things, will have another monitor keeping an eye on financial matters.
Centers had five days from Crane’s Thursday night order to hire an independent financial monitor to make sure no inappropriate transactions, disbursements or financial dealings take place. The court gave the company the option of choosing Elyse Ruzow of Ruzow & Associates or Robert H. Silbering of T&M USA.
This individual financial monitor (IFM) will be responsible for reviewing transfers of funds from the four nursing homes in question to any related party. It will also monitor records of all facility payments and disbursements, general ledger and sales and purchase journals, from May 2023 forward.
Among the respondents named in Friday’s preliminary injunction are the divisional presidents of Centers Health Care (Aharon Lanzitsky and Nate Goldman), company legal representatives and the administrators of the four nursing homes in question: Saul Silbermintz of Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a 448-bed facility in the Bronx; Izzy Levinson of Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a 200-bed facility in Buffalo; Dovid Liff of Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, a 314-bed facility in Queens; and Sam Isaak of Martine Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a 200-bed facility in White Plains.
The attorney general alleges that diverting funds from the facilities led them to be understaffed, underfunded and to operate under conditions that led to patient neglect. James’ original 318-page petition filed in Manhattan court claims that residents suffered serious injuries, malnutrition and infections, sometimes leading to death at the four facilities.
The alleged schemes go back at least 10 years, according to legal filings. The nursing homes charged well over twice the rent they reported to the state department of health, authorities claim. In addition, they shifted funds illegally, participated in interest-free loans and paid huge sums to other companies owned by the chain’s owners and their family members, officials allege.
