On Jan. 16, the United States filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against Priority Hospital Group LLC (PHG), a Louisiana-based hospital management company, three PHG-managed long-term care hospitals (LTCH), and a doctor, alleging False Claims Act violations based on medically unnecessary care and patient referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. According to the United States’ complaint, PHG and the LTCH defendants allegedly held patients in the hospital longer than medically necessary in order to increase their Medicare reimbursement. The United States alleges that PHG and the LTCH defendants delayed discharging certain patients, even when their course of treatment had been completed or when they could have been transferred to a lower level of care, because doing so would have resulted in lower payments from Medicare. The United States’ complaint also alleges that one LTCH, Riverside Hospital of Louisiana, entered into medical directorship agreements with a doctor, and provided him other remuneration, to induce him to refer patients to Riverside in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law.