Timing Is Everything: The Sixth Circuit's Application Of The Materiality Test

The materiality test articulated in Escobar has become one of the most litigated issues in False Claims Act (FCA) practice. Most courts have taken to heart the Supreme Court's direction that materiality is a "demanding" and "rigorous" test in which "minor or insubstantial" non-compliance would not qualify as material. However, a recent Sixth Circuit two-to-one decision found that noncompliance with a physician signature timing requirement sufficiently alleged materiality under Escobar, reversing the district court's dismissal of the case. United States ex rel. Prather v. Brookdale Senior Living Communities, Inc., 892 F.3d 822 (6th Cir. 2018). This opinion arguably is inconsistent with Escobar. The better analysis of Relator's complaint would conclude that the Relator pled insufficient facts, under the Rule 9(b) particularity standard, to suggest that the untimely physician signature somehow resulted in the government paying for home health services for which it otherwise would not have paid.

Case Summary

This decision was Relator's second time before the Sixth Circuit litigating the complaint she filed in 2012 against Brookdale Senior Living, Inc., and related entities (Brookdale) after the government declined to intervene. The dispute centers around compliance with the regulation, 42 C.F.R. §424.22(a), which pertains to home health services. Section 424.22(a) provides that a "physician must certify the patient's eligibility for the home health benefit," including that the individual is home bound and eligible for home care under Medicare's coverage rules. Subsection (a)(2) has a timing requirement for this certification; "the certification of need for home health services must be obtained at the time the plan of care is established or as soon thereafter as possible and must be signed and dated by the physician who establishes the plan." Relator alleged that she was engaged to help Brookdale deal with a large backlog of Medicare claims, including obtaining physician certifications months after a patient's treatment began. She argued that claims with these "late" certifications violated § 424.22(a)(2) and rendered those claims false under an implied certification theory.

Materiality

The court had three reasons for finding Relator sufficiently alleged materiality; 1) section 424.22(a)(2) was an express condition of payment; 2) the government paid the claims without knowledge of the non-compliance, which in the court's view made the...