Philadelphia’s Cheltenham Nursing & Rehab is part of $3.6M False Claims Act settlement
The Department of Justice said in a 2022 suit that nonprofit American Health Foundation neglected patients at three nursing homes in Pa. and Ohio.
The owner of Philadelphia’s Cheltenham Nursing & Rehabilitation Center agreed to pay $3.61 million to settle a federal False Claims Act lawsuit saying staff neglected patients for years and allowed them to live in a pest-infested building, the U.S. Department of Justice said this week.
The civil lawsuit filed in Philadelphia in 2022 said that Cheltenham’s owner, Ohio-based American Health Foundation, collected millions in management fees from the facility at 600 W. Cheltenham Ave. while it applied relentless pressure to cut nursing costs and built substantial financial reserves.
Among the incidents that drew regulatory scrutiny was the June 2018 suicide of an elderly patient at the East Oak Lane facility. At the same time, federal regulators said that Cheltenham gave some residents unnecessary antibiotic, antipsychotic, antianxiety, and hypnotic drugs.
“Nursing homes are expected to provide their residents, which include some of our most vulnerable citizens, with quality care and to treat them with dignity and respect,” deputy assistant attorney general Brenna Jenny said in a news release. “The department will not tolerate nursing homes — or their owners or managing entities — abdicating these responsibilities and seeking taxpayer funds to which they are not entitled.”
In addition to the 255-bed Philadelphia nursing home, the settlement covers two Ohio nursing homes: The Sanctuary at Wilmington Place, a 63-bed nursing home in Dayton and Samaritan Care Center & Villa, a 56-bed nursing home in Medina.
The settlement covers care provided from 2016 through 2018 and is not an admission of wrongdoing by American Health Foundation, called AHF.
“AHF is pleased that the recently announced settlement agreement has concluded a False Claims Act lawsuit related to events which occurred more than five years ago,” AHF executive J. Michael Haemmerle said in an email.
“Throughout the matter, AHF has denied any form of wrongdoing and maintained that health officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania long ago certified that the alleged deficiencies in the complaint were fully remedied and addressed,” he said.