Reliant Care Management, the St. Louis-based operator of more than 20 skilled nursing facilities across Missouri and Kansas, has been involved in two major federal cases: an $8.3 million False Claims Act settlement in 2017 over medically unnecessary Medicare therapy billing, and an ongoing Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor over unpaid meal breaks for nursing staff. Smaller matters include a former executive’s severance suit and an amicus filing in the CMS vaccine-mandate litigation. The lawsuits and settlements below cover what has been filed against Reliant Care Management and its affiliates in federal court.
The $8.3 Million Medicare Therapy Settlement
On July 5, 2017, the United States reached a civil settlement of $8,368,878 with Reliant Care Group, Reliant Care Management Company, Reliant Care Rehabilitative Services (doing business as Innovate Rehab & Wellness), and a group of affiliated Missouri skilled nursing facilities.1U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Reaches $8.3 Million Civil Settlement With Reliant Care Group and Reliant Affiliated Entities The government alleged the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary physical, speech, and occupational therapy provided to nursing home residents between January 2008 and April 2014.2HHS Office of Inspector General. U.S. Reaches $8.3 Million Civil Settlement With Reliant Care Group and Reliant Affiliated Entities
The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri with the HHS Office of Inspector General and the FBI. Government records do not identify a whistleblower or qui tam relator behind the case.1U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Reaches $8.3 Million Civil Settlement With Reliant Care Group and Reliant Affiliated Entities
More than a dozen facilities were named in the settlement, including Bernard Care Center, Bridgewood Health Care Center, Chariton Park Health Care Center, Crestwood Health Care Center, Four Seasons Living Center, Heritage Care Center of Berkeley, Levering Regional Health Care Center, Milan Health Care Center, Nathan Health Care Center, North Village Park, St. Elizabeth Care Center, Stonecrest Healthcare, and Westview Nursing Home.2HHS Office of Inspector General. U.S. Reaches $8.3 Million Civil Settlement With Reliant Care Group and Reliant Affiliated Entities
The Corporate Integrity Agreement
As part of the settlement, Reliant Care Group and its affiliates signed a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the HHS Office of Inspector General. The agreement took effect on July 5, 2017, ran roughly five years, and fell under the OIG’s “Claims Review” compliance category. It covered all three parent-level Reliant entities and the facilities named in the settlement. OIG lists the agreement as closed with an end date of April 18, 2023.3HHS Office of Inspector General. Corporate Integrity Agreements – Reliant Care Group, LLC
The Department of Labor Meal-Break Lawsuit
Reliant Care Management and Levering Regional Health Care Center are defendants in an active Fair Labor Standards Act case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor. Filed in February 2021 in the Eastern District of Missouri, the suit alleges the facilities automatically deducted 30 minutes of pay each shift for meal breaks while knowing that nursing staff routinely worked through those breaks without compensation.4Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Micone v. Levering Regional Health Care Center, No. 23-3683
The Missing Time Sheets
The evidentiary center of the case is a documentary gap. Levering’s policy required employees who missed a meal break to fill out a “Temporary Time Sheet” signed by a supervisor to be paid for the missed time. During the DOL’s audit period, February 13, 2018, to February 12, 2020, the company could not produce a single one of these forms. In a four-month window after the audit closed, from August 2022 to January 2023, the company produced 883 pages of them.4Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Micone v. Levering Regional Health Care Center, No. 23-3683 The company attributed the gap to records lost after an HR director left during the pandemic.5McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Missing Nursing Home Payroll Records, Lack of Policy at Issue in Appeal in Meal Break Federal Lawsuit
At oral argument before the Eighth Circuit, one judge called the sudden appearance of hundreds of forms after the audit “suspicious.”5McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Missing Nursing Home Payroll Records, Lack of Policy at Issue in Appeal in Meal Break Federal Lawsuit
Eighth Circuit Reversal and Remand
U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey granted summary judgment for the defendants in October 2023, finding no FLSA violation. The Department of Labor appealed. On March 26, 2025, the Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded, holding that a reasonable jury could infer from the complete absence of time sheets during the audit period that Levering had failed to effectively communicate its overtime-pay policy to employees.4Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Micone v. Levering Regional Health Care Center, No. 23-3683
On remand, Judge Autrey vacated his earlier summary judgment on August 25, 2025, and denied fresh summary judgment motions from both Levering and Reliant Care. The court found sufficient evidence that Reliant Care functioned as a “joint employer” of Levering’s nursing staff under the FLSA’s economic-realities test. Cited factors included that Reliant set salaries, approved wage increases and bonuses, determined benefits packages, processed payroll, maintained employment records, and created the disputed meal-break policy.6GovInfo. Chavez-DeRemer v. Levering Regional Health Care Center, 4:21-CV-182 The court also ruled the evidence could support a finding of willful violation, which would extend the statute of limitations from two years to three and keep liquidated damages available.
The defendants moved for reconsideration, arguing the Eighth Circuit’s reversal reached only the original audit period and that they were still entitled to judgment on the post-2020 period. Judge Autrey denied that motion on September 19, 2025, holding that the appellate mandate applied to the entire case. In February 2026, the parties filed a joint notice of compliance with a consent judgment, suggesting a resolution may have been reached.7PACER Monitor. Stewart v. Levering Regional Health Care Center, LLC et al
Fired Executive’s Severance Suit
An unnamed former executive sued Reliant Care Management in the Eastern District of Missouri for wrongful discharge, retaliation, and breach of contract, alleging the company failed to pay severance and other benefits owed under an employment agreement. In a December 4, 2018, ruling, Judge Ronnie L. White remanded the executive’s state-law claims to state court, finding that Reliant had not shown the employment contract qualified as an employee welfare benefit plan under ERISA. Without an ERISA plan, the breach-of-contract claim was not preempted by federal law.8Bloomberg Law. Reliant Care Must Defend Exec’s Benefits Suit in Missouri Court
CMS Vaccine Mandate Amicus Brief
Reliant Care was not a party to the CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate litigation, but it filed an amicus brief in State of Missouri v. Biden before the Eighth Circuit in December 2021. The company opposed the government’s request to stay a preliminary injunction that had blocked the mandate, arguing the requirement was imposed without proper notice-and-comment rulemaking and was driving staff resignations that threatened the closure of rural Missouri nursing facilities, particularly those serving patients with complex diagnoses.9Affordable Care Act Litigation. Reliant Care Amicus Brief, State of Missouri v. Biden, No. 21-3725
What Reliant Care Is Not Connected To
Reliant Care is sometimes associated in public discussion with the December 15, 2023, closure of Northview Village, the North St. Louis nursing home that shut down abruptly and displaced 170 residents overnight. Reliant was not an owner or operator of Northview Village. That facility was owned by Healthcare Accounting Services, LLC, with majority ownership held by the Rothner and Suissa families.10Medicare Advocacy. A Poster Child for Meaningful Corporate-Wide Enforcement of Nursing Facilities Reliant Care intersects with the story only in that it purchased Grand Manor, a facility where some displaced Northview residents were relocated; Mark Suissa, a Northview owner, also held a stake in Grand Manor at the time of the relocation.11St. Louis Public Radio. St. Louis Northview Village Nursing Home Closure Penalties No regulatory or legal actions tied to that acquisition have been reported.
Reliant Care was not named in the WARN Act class action former Northview employees brought against Northview’s owners over the mass layoff, in which a federal judge entered a default judgment of roughly $1.9 million in September 2025 after the owners stopped defending the case.12CourtListener. Hawthorne v. Northview Village, Inc., 4:23-cv-0171113St. Louis Public Radio. Former Workers at North St. Louis Nursing Home Waiting on Compensation