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AREA HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS ORDERED TO REPAY FALSE CLAIMS

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Two area home health providers are among five providers in Iowa and South Dakota who have been ordered in a federal consent judgment to repay a total of over $3.1 million dollars.

Sergeant Bluff Healthcare, LLC and Elk Point Health Care #1 LLC were accused of submitting false claims to Medicare for therapy services between January 2012 and December 2015.

The two providers are affiliates of Welcov Healthcare, LLC, a Minnesota entity in the midst of proceedings in Hennepin County District Court.

The complaint alleged the claims were false either because the services provided were not skilled or because the beneficiaries’ medical conditions did not justify the need for skilled therapy services.

The companies also received notifications that their claims for therapy services were inordinately high and that the companies failed to take adequate steps to address their billing procedures after receiving the notifications.

In a civil judgment filed in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Sergeant Bluff Healthcare’s penalty was over $1,245,000 and Elk Point Healthcare’s was over $788,484.

The other three Welcov providers are in Logan and Red Oak Iowa and Flandreau South Dakota.