Three Illinois Nursing Facilities Pay $300,000 to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Three affiliated skilled nursing facilities in Illinois will pay the United States a total of $300,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting or causing the submission of false claims to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for medically unnecessary rehabilitation services.

The facilities are Symphony Jackson Square LLC doing business as Symphony of Chicago West, Symphony Park South LLC doing business as Symphony of Morgan Park, and Symphony Midway LLC. The settlement covers claims for rehabilitation therapy that the government alleged did not meet Medicare and Medicaid requirements for medical necessity.

The Department of Justice reached the agreement based on the facilities' documented ability to pay.

The resolution ends the federal False Claims Act investigation into these three facilities. Prior to the settlement the facilities faced potential liability for treble damages plus per-claim penalties on each allegedly false submission to the federal health care programs. The new state is a fixed $300,000 payment with no further financial exposure on the covered conduct.

The payment will be transferred to the United States Treasury. Federal auditors and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General now close this matter and can redirect investigative resources to other providers. The three facilities must continue to meet all Medicare and Medicaid documentation standards for any future claims or risk new referrals to the Department of Justice.

Illinois Medicaid agencies that co-funded the disputed services receive no separate recovery under the announced terms.

This settlement follows a series of similar False Claims Act resolutions targeting skilled nursing facilities for therapy billing practices. The Department of Justice has pursued these cases under the same statutory framework since at least 2010, when Congress expanded the False Claims Act's application to Medicare Part B rehabilitation services in nursing homes.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated its medical necessity criteria for therapy in 2011 and again in 2023 to require individualized documentation of expected functional improvement.