BOSTON — Six dialysis centers majority-owned by Sankar Nephrology Group have agreed to pay about $2 million to resolve allegations that they collected more federal COVID-19 relief money than they were entitled to, the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said Tuesday.

The settlement resolves civil False Claims Act allegations that the centers, SNG Bellaire Dialysis Center, SNG Hillcroft Dialysis Center, SNG Northwest Dialysis Center, SNG Pasadena Dialysis Center, SNG Sandcastle Dialysis Center and SNG Texas City Dialysis, submitted false claims to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to receive payments from the Provider Relief Fund. Sankar Nephrology Group will guarantee the settlement amount, prosecutors said.

The fund was created under the CARES Act, which Congress enacted on March 29, 2020, and reimbursed eligible health care providers for lost revenue or added expenses caused by the pandemic. It was managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency within HHS, which paid providers based on their past Medicare billing on the condition that they report their pandemic-related losses and expenses.

According to the settlement agreement, the centers admit that by the time they filed those reports, each had either stopped operating or sold its operations to another owner. The centers nonetheless reported zero revenue for the reporting period, which the U.S. attorney's office said created the false impression that their revenue had dropped to zero because of the pandemic rather than a pre-arranged sale or closure.

That reporting led the agency to award the centers more relief money than they were entitled to, prosecutors said. The government contends the centers submitted false claims for payment and false statements material to a false claim.

The settlement was announced by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and the HHS Office of Inspector General.

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