Nursing Home CEO Pleads Guilty to Fraud

By Daniel Hawn

Published on October 12, 2006

US Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Tuesday that American Healthcare Management CEO Robert D. Wachter, 59, pled guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicare and Medicaid. Three St. Louis area nursing homes operated by Watcher's company could face fines in excess of $500,000, Hanaway said.

In addition to fraud, Watcher was allegedly responsible for understaffing problems that contributed to poor living conditions and inadequate patient care. Watcher, of Jackson, Wyoming, was also accused of attempting to conceal the nursing homes' conditions from state and federal regulators.

Prosecutors said employees at the nursing homes often neglected to help patients who were unable to feed themselves, allowing food to go to waste instead. They also alleged that residents developed potentially fatal pressure sores and went for long periods of time without being bathed.

In one case, an 88-year-old patient was said to have lain in her own feces and been covered in ants for hours in the weeks before she died. Another resident, a 78-year-old man, allegedly died after being beaten by a staff member.

J. Richard Kiefer, Watcher's attorney, did not promptly return a phone call seeking comment. An attorney for the nursing homes declined to comment.

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