Three strikes and she’s out: A whistleblower’s lawsuit against a Genesis HealthCare subsidiary won’t get its day in the Supreme Court, the court posted on Monday.
The lawsuit was filed against Sun Healthcare by Margaret Jallali, a former therapy director for the provider who claimed the company billed Medicare for therapy services that were never provided, along with other incidents of “billing fraud,” according to court documents. Sun was acquired by Genesis in 2012.
A federal court dismissed Jallali’s lawsuit in 2015, ruling that she “failed to allege the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘how’ of fraudulent submissions to the government.” Jallali appealed the ruling, saying the court had “erred” in finding she lacked concrete evidence of the false claims; an appeals court affirmed the case’s dismissal in 2016.
Jallali’s filed a petition with the Supreme Court in November, seeking one last chance to have the case heard. The petition was denied on Monday.
The Supreme Court will hear a skilled nursing-related case, Kindred Nursing Centers v. Clark, next month. The arguments will center around the validity and enforceability of nursing home arbitration agreements.
