Updated: 10/21/2009 6:08 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email

Minn. Sues Nursing Home Owner for Overbilling

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing the owner of a Plymouth nursing home for fraud for allegedly overbilling the state.

Swanson filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court charging Barbara Ann Currin, owner of Ometta Vent Care Services Inc., with felony Medical Assistance fraud.

The suit says the home billed the state for $2.7 million over 18 months.

Swanson says the charges included $40-an-hour skilled nursing services that were provided by $16-an-hour personal care attendants and more expensive individualized care when patients got cheaper shared services.

An attorney who represented Currin in a nursing license dispute earlier this year had no immediate comment. State nursing regulators suspended her license and state health inspectors have investigated violations at the home.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)