VENTAS INC

In March 2001, Vencor Inc. and Ventas Inc. agreed to pay $104.5 million to the United States to resolve False Claims Act allegations that Vencor knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. Ventas had been spun off from Vencor in 1998 to own the nursing homes and hospitals that Vencor operated. The settlement was the second-largest False Claims Act recovery in a nursing home case at the time and was part of Vencor's bankruptcy reorganization.

The $104.5 million covered three categories of fraud: $54.7 million for improper claims on Vencor's hospital Medicare cost reports, more than $24 million for overbilling for respiratory care services and supplies, and more than $20 million for failure-of-care claims including inadequate staffing, improper care of decubitus ulcers (pressure sores), and failure to meet residents' dietary needs. Vencor subsequently changed its name to Kindred Healthcare, which itself paid $125 million in 2016 to resolve separate False Claims Act allegations that its RehabCare subsidiary caused skilled nursing facilities to submit false claims for unnecessary rehabilitation therapy, and $19.4 million in 2024 to settle hospice fraud allegations. Ventas's legacy entity spawned a chain of successors with recurring Medicare fraud settlements.