A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice asserts that Vitas Hospice Services, a company founded in 1983 by a group that included state Senate President Don Gaetz, submitted fraudulent bills for Medicare payment.
The lawsuit alleges that for 12 years Vitas “violated the False Claims Act and misspent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars” by billing Medicare “for ineligible patients and inflated levels of care,” a Department of Justice news release said.
Gaetz said Thursday that he has not been contacted about the complaint and was not a party to it.
“I have no direct knowledge of the complaint that’s been made, but it is heartbreaking to see a company I helped found involved in something like this,” he said.
Vitas is the largest hospice care chain in the country.
The Justice Department claims the Medicare fraud was occurring in 2001, three years before Gaetz and his partners sold the company.
But Gaetz said he remained active in the management of Vitas only until 2000. He stepped aside that year when he was elected superintendent of the Okaloosa County School District.
“I told my partners I was interested in becoming superintendent of schools, and when I got elected I said I was stepping back,” said Gaetz, who lives in Niceville. “I gave up all management responsibilities in 2000, though I continued as a shareholder and attended about four board meetings a year.”
In 2004, Gaetz and fellow Vitas founders Hugh Westbrook and Esther Colliflower sold their stock in the company to Cincinnati-based Chemed for $406 million.
The Justice Department alleges Vitas Hospice and Vitas Healthcare submitted claims for unneeded emergency services for patients or services that weren’t provided, the Associated Press has reported. The companies pressured their employees to submit more claims to get more revenue, the AP said.
Gaetz said he is not clear on the merits of the case against Vitas Hospice Services LLC, Vitas Healthcare Corp. and Chemed.
“My understanding is that the owners and operators of the company are aggressively denying the complaint,” he said.
Gaetz said he recognizes that different management priorities can evolve when a conglomerate takes over a company from its founders.
“I would say there are people who are still caring employees of Vitas that were there when I was involved,” he said. “They are good people that I feel bad for, having to defend against this complaint.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.