Allegations of $ 3.6 Million Medicaid Fraud Linked to Former New Jersey Nursing Home Owner

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ANDOVER TOWNSHIP, NJ – A former owner of a Sussex County nursing home where bodies were stacked in a makeshift mortuary after COVID swept him away, is wanted in Arkansas on tax evasion and fraud charges Medicaid of $ 3.6 million.

This investigation raised questions in New Jersey about the status of a state investigation into the Andover Subacute facilities, now known as the Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center and Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, where Joseph Schwartz , owner of Skyline Retirement Homes, is linked to possession.

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt aired a segment in November about what happened at the Andover Subacute facility during the pandemic below, interviewing a former employee who spoke for the first time about what happened past Easter weekend in April 2020, when the morgue got so crowded, a body was placed in a storage shed.

Find out what’s happening at Hopatcong-Sparta with free, real-time updates from Patch.

RELATED: Watch Former NJ Nursing Home Employee Talk About ‘Makeshift Morgue’

On the Lester Holt show, interviewer Stephanie Gosk spoke about the outcome of federal inspections at Andover Subacute after the 2020 incident, which later changed its name, referring to NBC News’ own 2019 investigation of the company. by Schwartz.

Find out what’s happening at Hopatcong-Sparta with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Schwartz’s Skyline has reportedly already had a stake in the Andover facility, with his son Louis still one of the owners, NBC News reported in its briefing below:

Arkansas allegations

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said authorities were looking for Schwartz after a 44-month investigation into his company Skyline retirement homes, which Rutledge said received $ 3.6 million in 2018 from Medicaid payments. overcharged for eight locations he owns in Arkansas.

According to a recent press release from Rutledge’s office, Schwartz’s company inflated its bills to over $ 6.2 million by filing false cost reports, statements and other documents, which resulted in an overpayment at his company’s more than $ 3.6 million Medicaid program in Arkansas.

Rutledge said Schwartz was also accused of attempting to evade tax by withdrawing more than $ 2 million in income taxes from the paychecks of his Arkansas employees between July 2017 and March. 2018, without transmitting these withholding taxes to the State of Arkansas.

It further collected “tens of millions of dollars in gross revenue” from its facilities in 2018 and 2019, for which it never filed tax returns, according to Rutledge.

“These charges come after a 44-month investigation into Skyline’s wrongdoing, and I will not stand idly by while someone defrauds the state and federal government with millions of dollars to line their pockets,” Rutledge said. “It is important that the Arkansians know if they suspect Medicaid fraud, they should contact my office immediately.”

His office referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office through the Inspector General’s Office for Medicaid, following a joint investigation with the HHS OIG-Office of Investigation, Nebraska Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit, Kansas MFCU , Maryland MFCU and South Dakota MFCU.

Local response to allegations against Schwartz

Members of the Sussex County County Commissioners ‘Council responded to Arkansas’ mandate announcement against Schwartz on Wednesday, saying they planned to draft a letter to Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck , for an update on the state’s investigation into Andover Subacute, which the commissioners plan to present at their next public meeting.

According to a press release from the Commissioners, they say Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration continues to block Open Public Records Act requests that the Sussex County attorney first submitted in May 2020.

RELATED: Still No Responses In NJ’s ‘Makeshift Morgue’ Nursing Home Case

County commissioners further said that “a year-long investigation by the New Jersey attorney general into Andover Subacute and other nursing homes has produced no news.”

A special public question that featured on the Sussex County ballots in the Nov. 2 general election had an overwhelming majority of over 34,000 votes or 82% of voters choosing ‘yes’ for further inquiry into the polls. deaths from COVID-19 at the New Jersey nursing home, as well as a new release of information relating to New Jersey’s management of nursing homes during the pandemic.

RELATED: Sussex Co. Poll Question Calls for Investigation of COVID-19 Nursing Homes

Commissioners said Schwartz’s news highlighted the “mismanagement of nursing homes as Gov. Phil Murphy’s Order in Council 103 approached which forced many substandard long-term care facilities to accept patients COVID “.

“The fact that state officials are responsible for licensing and monitoring these facilities only increases the need for transparency and full disclosure,” wrote Samantha Gabriele, spokesperson for the commissioners.

“County commissioners fully cooperated with the state’s investigation, including authorizing interviews with staff members, all emails and correspondence; and emails to the state health department in response to what was going on at the nursing home, ”Commissioner Herb Yardley said.

He called the state’s cooperation “one-sided,” saying that instead of having an investigation by the attorney general, appointed by Murphy, it should be carried out by a special advocate.

“It has been over a year and we still have not heard anything about this investigation or how the policies, decisions and oversight directed at our nursing homes resulted in a tragedy,” said Commissioner Anthony Fasano. “Transparency and accountability are so desperately needed and so blatantly lacking.”

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