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SNF operator to pay $232,000 for false claims

Compliance Monitor, May 19, 2004

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Robert C. Bristol and his company Regency Health Services agreed May 6 to pay $232,000 to the federal government for submitting false claims to CMS, according to the U.S. attorney's office in the northern district of Maryland.

Regency Health Services operates Regency Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a skilled nursing facility in Forestville.

Bristol submitted Medicare cost reports to the fiscal intermediary that administers the Medicare program on behalf of CMS. Bristol sent its Medicaid cost reports to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for the state.

The cost reports included reimbursement for full-time salaries for Bristol and his wife, though he worked part-time only at Regency; his wife did not work there at all. The reports also included salaries and expenses of a management company Bristol owned; personal travel and meals and entertainment expenses; premiums for whole life insurance policies in Bristol's name (he borrowed against them for personal use); and a 1997 condominium rental which he and his wife used.

In addition to the financial settlement, the government will exclude Bristol and Regency Health Services from Medicare, Medicaid and all other federal health programs for five years.

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