Prema Thekkek, her Vacaville, Calif.-based management company and six skilled nursing facilities owned or operated by Ms. Thekkek will pay $45.6 million to resolve allegations they submitted false claims by paying kickbacks to physicians.
From 2009 to 2021, the skilled nursing facilities, under the direction of Ms. Thekkek and the management company, Paksn, entered agreements to provide kickbacks to induce the physicians to refer patients to the facilities, according to a Nov. 15 Justice Department news release.
The defendants hired physicians who promised in advance to refer a large number of patients and terminated physicians who did not refer enough.
The settlement stems from a whistleblower complaint filed by Paksn's former vice president of operations and COO.