CEO Sentenced On Conspiracy Charges Involving Failure of Care at Nursing Facilities

stlouis.fbi.gov, Mar 19, 2007

American Healthcare Management Inc., its Chief Executive Officer and three nursing homes were sentenced on charges of conspiracy to defraud the Medicare and Medicaid Programs by providing inadequate staff at the nursing homes and thereby failing to provide proper care to elderly and disabled residents, announced United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway.

“Today’s sentencing's demonstrate this office’s continuing commitment to fight health care fraud, especially the kind that hurts our most vulnerable citizens. This office will aggressively investigate and pursue prosecutions of nursing homes and their operators when they do not provide services paid for by the government,” said Hanaway.

Due to lack of adequate staffing at these facilities, numerous residents of the three nursing homes suffered from dehydration and malnutrition. Staff was often not available to assist residents who could not feed themselves or drink liquids without help; food trays simply sat before the residents and then later picked up. Residents went for extended periods of time without cleaning or bathing and developed life-threatening bed sores that would have been preventable with proper care and treatment. Photographs of one resident showed bed sores that extended from one hip to the other hip with dead tissue down to the bone. An 88-year old resident, who was totally dependent on Claywest for care, sat for hours at a time in her own waste and in the two weeks before her death, nursing staff found ants crawling all over her body. There were also instances of patients walking away from facilities and physical abuse by staff members. Additionally, a 78-year old patient was beaten by an employee and later died as a result of his injuries.

Robert D. Wachter, Jackson, Wyoming, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $29,000 fine.

Each of the following corporations received a fine of $180,250 and two years probation:

American Healthcare Management, Inc., St. Louis
Claywest House Healthcare, LLC, St. Charles
Oak Forest North, LLC, St. Louis
Lutheran Care Center, LLC, St. Louis

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