WASHINGTON (NBC 26) — A New Jersey man and the company he ran are accused of running a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid while operating nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Wisconsin.
Kevin Breslin, 56, of Hoboken, New Jersey, and KBWB Operations, LLC, doing business as Atrium Health and Senior Living (Atrium) in Park Ridge, New Jersey, were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday in the Western District of Wisconsin.
The indictment charges the defendants with health care fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit tax fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Breslin was the Chief Executive Officer of Atrium, which operated 24 skilled nursing facilities and nine assisted living facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan.
These facilities were named "Atrium Post Acute Care" and had locations in Appleton, Chilton, Kewaunee, Little Chute, Neenah, New Holstein, Oconto Falls, Plymouth, Shawano, Stevens Point, Two Rivers, and Menominee, Michigan. Atrium Post Acute Care locations could also be found in Black River Falls, Chetek, Weston, Williams Bay, Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield, Lancaster, Mineral Point, and Ellsworth.
The DOJ says that from January 2015 through September 2018, Atrium billed Medicare for over $189,000,000 and received over $49,000,000; they billed Medicaid for over $218,000,000 and received over $93,000,000. They received this money with the expectation that they would provide adequate care and resources, but the DOJ says they didn't.
The DOJ says Breslin and Atrium diverted funds from Wisconsin facilities to help pay for New Jersey facilities. According to the DOJ, the diversion of funds meant residents in Wisconsin facilities received inadequate care, including a shortage of clean diapers, not enough wound care supplies, inadequate cleaning supplies, and a lack of medical equipment.
In addition, the DOJ says the diversion of funds caused non-payment to vendors, which caused numerous services to be cut off, including physical therapy for residents, fire alarm monitoring services, and phone and internet services which prevented staff from obtaining prescription orders and accessing electronic medical records.
The DOJ also says Breslin and Atrium withheld insurance premiums and 401K contributions from employees' paychecks, but then wouldn't pay those monies over to the third-party administrators handling payments for health claims and pensions.
Breslin and Atrium are also accused of evading tax payments.
If convicted, Breslin and Atrium face penalties of five years in federal prison on the conspiracy to commit tax fraud charge, and 20 years on each health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering charge. The conspiracy to commit tax fraud charge and each of the health care, wire, and mail fraud charges carry a $250,000 fine; the money laundering charge carries a $500,000 fine.
