(WFRV) – A 56-year-old man from New Jersey operating 33 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan was charged with healthcare fraud.
A federal grand jury in the Western District of Wisconsin returned an indictment on Wednesday, officially charging Kevin Breslin of Hoboken, New Jersey, and KBWB Operations, LLC.
The indictment alleges that Breslin and KBWB Operations, doing business as Atrium Health and Senior Living (Atrium) in Park Ridge, New Jersey, with a scheme to “defraud Medicare and Medicaid in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care benefits, items, or services.”
Authorities say the scheme operated from January 2015 to September 2018. Breslin was the Chief Executive Officer of Atrium, which operated 24 skilled nursing facilities and nine assisted living facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan.
The indictment charges the defendants with health care fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit tax fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to the release, between that timeframe, Atrium billed Medicare for over $189,000,000 and received over $49,000,000, and they also billed Medicaid for over $218,000,000 and received over $93,000,000.
Breslin and Atrium allegedly diverted funds from the Wisconsin facilities through guaranteed payments to Atrium owners, guaranteed monthly return-on-investment payments to investors that were financing the construction of skilled nursing facilities in New Jersey, and construction costs for the New Jersey facilities.
The ‘diversion of funds’ caused inadequate care of residents, including a shortage of clean diapers, inadequate wound care supplies, inadequate cleaning supplies, and a lack of durable medical equipment and respiratory supplies, authorities allege.
In addition, the ‘diversion of funds’ caused non-payment to vendors, leading to numerous services being cut off, including physical therapy for residents, fire alarm monitoring services, phone and internet services preventing staff from obtaining prescription orders and accessing electronic medical records systems, and necessary repairs and maintenance of the physical plant facilities.
Breslin and Atrium reportedly withheld insurance premiums from employees’ paychecks, withheld 401(k) retirement savings account contributions from employees’ paychecks, evaded payment to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service of state and federal income taxes, and employment taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks.
The facilities included in northeast Wisconsin are:
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Appleton
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Chilton
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Kewaunee
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Little Chute
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Neenah
- Atrium Post Acute Care of New Holstein
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Oconto Falls
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Plymouth
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Shawano at Birch Hill
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Shawano at Evergreen
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Shawano at Maple Lane
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Two Rivers
Additional facilities include:
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Black River Falls, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Bloomer, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Chetek, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Ellsworth, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Lancaster, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Marshfield, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Menominee, MI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Mineral Point, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Stevens Point, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Weston, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Williams Bay, WI
- Atrium Post Acute Care of Wisconsin Rapids, WI.
Possible penalties that Breslin faces include five years in federal prison on the conspiracy to commit tax fraud charge, and 20 years on each health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering charge.
No additional information was provided.