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St. Louis nursing home CEO pleads not guilty to fraud

LTC Liability Monitor, November 24, 2005

Robert Wachter, the former CEO of a SNF chain in the St. Louis area, plead not guilty this week to charges of conspiring to defraud the government by billing for substandard care at his three facilities, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A 54-page indictment handed down last Thursday alleges Wachter kept staffing levels at most of his SNFs to a minimum while also depriving them of money sufficient to provide adequate care to residents.

The indictment also recounts stories of neglect and abuse by 14 different residents, including that of one resident who died after being beaten by an employee, and another whose daughters allegedly found her covered with ants during a visit. Wachter's three nursing homes agreed last month to pay $1.25 million to settle federal civil claims. His SNFs have a history of deficiencies: a former nurse aide was convicted in 2001 of first degree elder abuse, and one SNF's former president served a year in jail for failing to report neglect in the death of an Alzheimer's resident, the Post-Dispatch reported.

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