But the Justice Department says the states have not had enough success identifying and punishing abusive and negligent nursing homes under the current system. Rather, she adds, it's the need to safeguard people who live in nursing homes. Much of the new network is in place. Already, it has generated action in Oklahoma. There, the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI worked closely with state officials to arrest a ranking state health department official and a nursing-home operator on a federal bribery charge.
Officials allege the bribery siphoned off funds intended for the care of nursing- home residents.
Prosecutors, he adds, 'can pick and choose whether to file cases under federal or state laws or both. In another approach, federal officials say they have had some success using the federal False Claims Act as a weapon against crooked nursing-home operators. Enacted during the Civil War, the act authorizes the federal government to sue companies that bill the government excessively for goods or services, or for goods or services not provided. Government lawyers argue nursing homes violate the False Claims Act when they fail to provide good care specified in government contracts as a condition for reimbursement. The government might also claim mail fraud if a nursing-home operator sends a fraudulent bill to the government through the mail.