Long Island-Based Health System Prevails in Medicare Fraud Suit

Catholic Health System of Long Island won’t have to defend allegations that it committed fraud by falsely certifying compliance with federal law at a time when it was diverting a nursing home’s medical services payments to another medical facility.

Federal law doesn’t require the recipient of a Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement payment to use the money in a particular way, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Monday. The system, therefore, couldn’t be sued under the False Claims Act or its state equivalent for using a nursing home’s reimbursements to pay a medical center instead of providing ...