Home Health & Hospice Week

Encompass Health Corp. has settled charges that it upcoded inpatient rehabilitation facility claims for $48 million, and three whistle­blowers will receive $12.4 million of it.

Beginning in 2007, some Encompass IRFs falsely diagnosed patients with what they referred to as “disuse myopathy” when there was no clinical evidence for this diagnosis, and admitted patients who were ineligible for IRF services, the Department of Justice says in a release.

“The evidence establishes that Encompass Health did nothing wrong,” Encompass CEO Mark Tarr says in a release. “But to stop this interminable investigation and avoid further expense, we decided it is in the best interests of Encompass Health and its shareholders to settle with DOJ and end the related litigation.” Encompass Health was formerly HealthSouth.

Following its acquisition of Birmingham, Alabama-based Alacare Home Health & Hospice on July 1, Dallas-based Encompass is now the country’s fourth largest provider of Medicare-cer­tified skilled home health services and is among the top 10 largest hospice providers in the country based on Medicare reimbursement, the company says. Encompass is comprised of 31 hospitals, 244 home health locations, and 82 hospice locations in 37 states and Puerto Rico.