United States et al. v. Sava Senior Care Inc. et al.

Defense counsel retained Cornerstone Research to support Justin McCrary of Columbia University.

Retained by Arnall Golden Gregory

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against SavaSeniorCare LLC and related entities (Sava), a nursing home operator based in Georgia. Defense counsel for Sava retained Cornerstone Research to support Justin McCrary of Columbia University.

Professor McCrary’s analysis showed that the sample drawn by the plaintiffs’ expert suffered from various statistical flaws.

The DOJ alleged that Sava overbilled the Medicare program for rehabilitation therapy services by providing services that were medically unnecessary, unreasonable, or unskilled. Professor McCrary assessed the statistical sampling methodology used by the plaintiffs’ expert to design a sample of Medicare claims, which was then used by plaintiffs to attempt to establish liability and calculate damages.

Professor McCrary’s analysis showed that the sample drawn by the plaintiffs’ expert suffered from various statistical flaws, including bias due to nonresponse and measurement error. In addition, Professor McCrary demonstrated that the sample was not representative of the population of Medicare claims at issue, and could not be used to draw statistically valid conclusions about liability or damages.

In May 2021, all parties agreed to settle.