Trade Group Applauds Skilled Nursing Company that Stands Up to Profiteering D.C. Lawyers
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New Mexico Health Care Association, a trade group of long term care providers delivering skilled nursing care to over 6,000 frail elderly across the state, applauded Preferred Care Partners Management Group for pushing back against legal action brought on by out-of-state attorneys known for their questionable business practices by filing motions to dismiss fraud cases against seven NM health care facilities and their management group. These cases are the result of solicitation by a Washington, D.C. law firm that "manufacturers allegations and sets their own standards to recoup millions under an allegation of fraud," said Linda Sechovec, Executive Director of the New Mexico Health Care Association. "Former Attorney General (AG) Gary King took the bait, and now providers and the care they offer is at serious risk with this novel, but looming legal threat that stands to redirect financial resources away from patient care," said Sechovec.
Sechovec referred to Cohen & Milstein attorney Linda Singer, a subject in the New York Times investigative story, Lawyers Create Big Paydays by Coaxing Attorneys General to Sue, who solicited the former NM Attorney General to enter into a contract where the private DC law firm would sue facilities by creating allegations of fraud based on standards that are in no way related to State Health Department regulations for facilities, standards established by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or by Congress. In fact, when Singer approached former AG King, according to the NY Times story, she urged him to sue a nursing home he had never heard of and she had never stepped foot in.
"When the Attorney General's office takes on cases purporting standards that are unheard of in the profession, something's wrong," cautioned Sechovec. "The New Mexico Health Care Association works closely with the NM State Health Department to understand and adhere to state and federal regulations and requirements for long term care facilities. The standards advocated by Cohen and Milstein are the fruit of their imagination, unsustainable and purely self-serving. Current Medicaid payments are related to current staffing costs but are inadequate to fully cover the audited costs for skilled care. This law firm's strategy is seriously flawed and dangerous because it would siphon millions of dollars away from senior care."
SOURCE New Mexico Health Care Association
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