Feds accuse Montco nursing home of ‘grossly substandard care’ in False Claims lawsuit
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania joined two whistleblower lawsuits that were filed in 2016 and 2017, when the nursing homes were owned by Carlyle Group's HCR ManorCare.
The U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia has filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against the former operators of a Pottstown nursing home for providing “grossly substandard care” from at least 2017 until 2023, the office announced Tuesday.
The 157-page lawsuit says the cited nursing homes failed to provide adequate wound care, neglected residents’ hygiene, and sometimes documented care that was not provided.
The Pottstown facility, at 724 N. Charlotte St., used to be called ProMedica Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation — Pottstown. Before that, it was known as ManorCare Health Services — Pottstown.
The Aug. 28 complaint builds on two whistleblower complaints filed in 2016 and 2017 when the facility was operated by the now defunct HCR ManorCare Inc.
ProMedica Health Systems Inc. acquired the facilities as part of its 2018 acquisition of HCR ManorCare’s more than 200 nursing homes out of bankruptcy.
The Pottstown facility is one of four named in the lawsuit, which also targets nursing homes in Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia.
» READ MORE: The Justice department recently secured a False Claims settlement against Philadelphia nursing home.
The lawsuit “serves notice to the nursing home industry that a failure to provide adequate nursing home care will not be tolerated,” David Metcalf, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “Public funds expended for nursing home residents must result in appropriate care, which is what the government pays for, and the law requires.”
ProMedica said the lawsuit was without merit. “We will vigorously defend against it,” the organization said in an email.
Some of the allegations in the complaint are from before ProMedica acquired the facilities in a joint venture with Welltower Inc., a large real estate investment trust. Private-equity owner Carlyle Group put HCR ManorCare into bankruptcy in March 2018, years after having sold its real estate to pay investors.
The HCR ManorCare deal represented a dramatic expansion of ProMedica beyond its roots as a hospital operator in Ohio and Michigan. The acquired nursing home operation included 38 in Pennsylvania and seven in New Jersey.
» READ MORE: The federal government dropped a massive fraud case against HCR ManorCare in 2017.
During the coronavirus pandemic, ProMedica lost massive amounts of money in the expanded nursing home business and had exited the Welltower joint venture in late 2022.
Ownership of the 150-bed Pottstown facility named in the new False Claims Act lawsuit changed again when Genesis Healthcare, of Kennett Square, took over some of the former HCR ManorCare facilities that ProMedica had acquired.
Now, the Pottstown facility is back in bankruptcy, along with another 175 Genesis nursing homes.