A Lake View skilled nursing facility has agreed to a settlement in a dispute over Medicare billing. The BlackHawk Lifecare Center has agreed to pay half-a-million dollars to resolve claims that the facility submitted billing to Medicare between January of 2007 and December of 2009 for therapy services that were not justified by the condition of the residents.
The federal government also claimed BlackHawk erroneously submitted inflated cost reports. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa says there were no allegations that the care resulted in any harm to the patients. Blackhawk agreed to the settlement, but did not admit any liability or wrongdoing.