WICHITA, Kan.  -  The U.S. Justice Department says a Kansas hospice care provider and its Texas-based parent company have agreed to pay $6.1 million to settle allegations they submitted false claims to the Medicare program.
     The settlement with Wichita-based Hospice Care of Kansas LLC and Fort Worth-based Voyager HospiceCare Inc. was announced Thursday.  The deal results from a whistleblower lawsuit first filed more than six years ago by Beverly Landis, a Hospice Care of Kansas nurse. Landis will receive $1.34 million under provisions of the federal False Claims Act.
     The government alleged the companies submitted false Medicare claims between 2004 and 2008 for patients who did not have prognoses of six months or less to live - a requirement for the benefits.
     An attorney for Landis, David White, says his client feels vindicated by the settlement.