Gentiva has agreed to pay $19.4 million to resolve False Claims Act complaints that predate the company’s acquisition of Kindred at Home.

The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Kindred at Home and related entities knowingly submitted false claims and retained overpayments for hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible. The federal government and the State of Tennessee first filed these complaints against Kindred in 2021 for claims submitted between 2010 and 2020.

Gentiva’s parent company, the private equity firm Clayton, Dublier and Rice, acquired a 60% stake Kindred at Home’s hospice assets in 2022 for $2.8 million, with previous owner Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) retaining the remaining 40%. 

“The hospice benefit under Medicare and other federal health care programs provides critical services to some of the most vulnerable patients,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, in a statement. “The department will ensure that this important benefit is used to assist those who need it, and not as an opportunity to line the pockets of those who seek to abuse it.”

The allegations center around the former Kindred at Home assets Avalon Hospice, SouthernCare and SouthernCare New Beacon. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only with no determination of liability, according to the Justice Department.

In addition to submitting false claims, the allegations include violations of the Anti-Kickback statute. The Kindred at Home brands in question were accused of paying consulting physicians to induce hospice referrals in Alabama locations.

Under the settlement, the federal government will receive more than $18.9 million, with the State of Tennessee receiving $448,800. The State of Ohio will receive $23,618.

The settlement includes the resolution of claims in nine lawsuits brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by various current and former Kindred employees.

“The integrity of hospice care is critical to the millions of patients receiving these services,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), in a statement. “We, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to ensure that providers who focus on personal financial gain rather than providing medically necessary, high-quality hospice care will be held accountable.”