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The U.S. Justice Department has accused RehabCare Group Inc. of paying more than $10 million in kickbacks to gain access to Medicare and Medicaid patients in Missouri nursing homes.

According to a civil lawsuit transferred last week to U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Clayton-based RehabCare began making payments in 2006 to induce a Missouri nursing home chain to grant RehabCare a contract to provide therapy services.

RehabCare’s revenue-sharing arrangement with the nursing home owner — Sikeston, Mo.-based Health Systems Inc. — defrauded the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs of millions of dollars, federal investigators allege.

Justice Department officials use the federal anti-kickback statute, which forbids paying others for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients, as a critical tool in fighting health care fraud and holding down costs in federal health programs.

The lawsuit, originally filed under seal by a whistleblower in Minnesota and joined last year by the U.S. government, provides details of a long-running federal probe into RehabCare’s business dealings in Missouri.

RehabCare lawyers say the government’s accusations do not contain sufficient details to support the accusation that the revenue-sharing scheme comprised illegal kickbacks.

“The government’s substantive kickback allegations – absent the conclusory allegations, legal conclusions and innuendo – are rather threadbare,” RehabCare’s lawyers said in court papers.

Named as defendants are RehabCare Group, Health Systems Inc., and its affiliate, Rehab Systems of Missouri LLC, which previously provided therapy services to Health Systems nursing homes. No individuals are named.

Until recently, Clayton was the headquarters for RehabCare. Last year, RehabCare was purchased by Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare Inc.

“We deny and intend to vigorously defend against these allegations,” Susan Moss, a Kindred spokeswoman, said in a written statement.

Scott Hinkle, general counsel for Health Systems, declined to comment on the pending litigation.

According to federal investigators, the alleged kickbacks involved a tangled web of ownership and lucrative business ties. RehabCare “has received in excess of $70 million in revenue from the transaction since it closed in 2006,” according to the government’s complaint.

Investigators from the FBI and Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services say that RehabCare crafted an illegal arrangement with Health Systems and Rehab Systems. The deal, investigators allege, included a one-time, $600,000 payment from RehabCare to Rehab Systems, as well as an ongoing 30 percent cut of federally financed therapy services, which was split between Health Systems and Rehab Systems.

RehabCare, in exchange, was granted a five-year contract to provide therapy services to nursing home patients of Health Systems.

In all, Rehab Systems recorded profits of more than $10 million from the nursing home contract, even though the limited liability company “has not had a single full-time employee … conducts no operations … and provides nothing of value to the nursing homes and no legitimate services to RehabCare,” investigators allege.

Talks between the three companies started in 2003. Seeking to increase its market share in Missouri nursing homes, RehabCare entered negotiations that included purchasing Rehab Systems from Health Systems, which was owned by James Lincoln. Lincoln also had an ownership stake in Rehab Systems.

According to the government, those talks stalled when negotiators voiced concerns that the deal could violate the anti-kickback law. That’s because RehabCare’s five-year contract with Health Systems was made contingent on its willingness to also purchase Rehab Systems.

In 2006, the parties agreed to a contract that did not involve an acquisition. RehabCare began providing therapy services to Health Systems’ nursing homes, effectively displacing Rehab Systems — but only on the condition that Rehab Systems get a cut of RehabCare’s revenue, even while Rehab Systems did none of the work, investigators allege.

According to court papers, Lincoln owns about 60 nursing homes in Missouri. Rehab Systems was co-owned by Lincoln, his son Jimmy Lincoln, and manager Tom Hudspeth.

In February 2006, RehabCare made a one-time payment of about $600,000 to Rehab Systems, federal investigators allege. The payment “created a financial windfall to Hudspeth,” who had a financial stake in Rehab Systems, but no ownership stake in Health Services or the nursing homes, investigators say.

They also say that RehabCare charged Health Systems only 70 percent of the Medicaid reimbursement amount — while Health Systems billed the government for the full amount. Health Systems and Rehab Systems split the difference of the remaining 30 percent.

Justice Department officials say that the $600,000 payment and the profit received by Rehab Systems amount to illegal kickbacks. Federal law forbids the payment or acceptance of “any renumeration” for referrals of patients for federal health care services.

In court papers, RehabCare lawyers acknowledged that the company made a payment to Rehab Systems, but differed over the amount. The company paid a $405,765 “recruiting fee” to Rehab Systems, and insist that the payment represents “reasonable consideration and fair market value,” the company’s lawyers assert in court records.

The case began in 2007 as a whistleblower lawsuit, filed under seal by a RehabCare competitor, Minnesota-based Health Dimensions Rehabilitation Inc. RehabCare has contracts with about 50 nursing homes in Minnesota.

After conducting an investigation, the Justice Department decided in December to join the lawsuit. The case was transferred to St. Louis because most of the relevant events took place in Missouri and key witnesses are located here.

The suit accuses RehabCare and the other defendants of filing false Medicare and Medicaid claims and of making or using false records or statements to support those claims. The Justice Department has asked for the defendants to pay treble damages plus civil penalties of as much as to $50,000 per every false claim. But the outcome of such cases is usually a settlement.

“There were many claims filed,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Blumenfield of Minneapolis.

He said that one purpose of the anti-kickback statute is to control costs by discouraging the payment of referral fees for health services. It also encourages providers to make health care decisions “based on what’s in the best interest of patients, rather than the best financial interests of the nursing home or the therapy company.”

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Home Depot says its fiscal first-quarter profit climbed 27.5 percent as warmer weather brought consumers out for spring gardening and lawn products.

The world’s biggest home-improvement company also boosted its 2012 financial outlook Tuesday, citing its year-to-date performance.

But the Atlanta retailer’s quarterly revenue results and its full-year revenue guidance fell short of analysts’ expectations. Its stock dropped 3 percent in premarket trading.

Home Depot Inc. reported net income of $1.04 billion, or 68 cents per share, for the period ended April 29. That’s up from $812 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest results beat the 64 cents per share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

“We saw a stronger-than-expected start to the year, driven by record warm weather and continued demand for core products,” Chairman and CEO Frank Blake said in a statement.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $17.81 billion from $16.8 billion. But that missed Wall Street’s estimate of $17.89 billion.

Home Depot’s shares fell $1.50, or 3 percent, to $48.38 ahead of the market opening.

Revenue at stores open at least a year rose 5.8 percent, with the metric climbing 6.1 percent for U.S. locations.

This figure is a key indicator of a retailer’s health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

The company expects fiscal 2012 earnings of $2.90 per share, with revenue up about 4.6 percent. This implies revenue of approximately $73.66 billion. Home Depot previously predicted earnings of about $2.79 per share and a 4 percent revenue increase.

Analysts had expected earnings of $2.90 per share on revenue of $74.06 billion.

Home Depot has 2,254 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China.

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Payday loans no faxing fall on the less risky side simply because the money loaned to you is a percentage of your next paycheck.

Apple is the world’s most valuable company. The Dow Jones industrial average is probably the world’s best-known stock index. So don’t they deserve each other?

If Apple had been added to the Dow in June 2009, the last time there were serious rumors that it would happen, the average would be about 2,500 points higher than it is today. It would also be well above its all-time high.

That’s the calculation of Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group, which crunches numbers about the markets guaranteed online personal loans. He says the Dow would be at 15,360, about 1,200 points above its record.

Dow Jones Indexes, which maintains the average, says its purpose is to reflect the broad economy _ not pick the hottest stocks.

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You’re not normally one to let your personal life interfere with work, but when you’re ducking out of the office a few times a week to take Dad to dialysis or your kid to physical therapy, it’s tough to get everything done to your usual standard.

Perhaps you need a break from juggling. Thanks to the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you may be entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off per year to tend to certain family-care needs. More workers took advantage of this right in the past year, a recent Towers Watson survey found.

"As the economy picked up, people felt more comfortable asking for time away to deal with personal matters," explains Tom Billet, a senior consultant at the firm. Should you find yourself needing a respite to focus on family, take these steps to ease the transition.

Know your rights

To qualify for FMLA leave, you must have worked for a company with 50 or more employees for at least a year and put in 1,250 hours in that time. FMLA applies if you, a parent, child, or spouse develops a serious illness, sustains a major injury, or requires ongoing medical treatment.

Other eligible circumstances: births, adoptions, and the deployment or recuperation of a military family member. The law guarantees that your position will be restored when you return. Health coverage continues while you’re away, but you probably won’t accrue vacation or retirement benefits.

More men choosing kids over career

See if you afford it

Before putting in for leave, be sure you can manage without the income. Don’t have several months’ expenses banked in an emergency fund? Use paid vacation first.

For your own ailments, exhaust sick days; also inquire about short-term disability. Should your relative only require intermittent care, take the leave, but work a few days on, a few days off to keep cash coming in.

Get buy-in from the boss

You can’t be fired for taking FMLA leave, but the way you manage this process can affect the way your employers view you — and your promotability. So be proactive.

Start by explaining the situation to your boss (you’ll be required to provide proof). Specify how much time off you’ll need, and ask what you can do to lessen workflow disruption.

"Problems arise when people take leaves in dribs and drabs," says Las Vegas employment lawyer Mary Chapman. "It’s harder for HR to keep track, and co-workers inherit a larger workload."

Best to make the leave as predictable as possible. For example, schedule appointments for Junior’s physical needs at the same time each week. Also, open up to co-workers about what you’re dealing with, advises Christopher Metzler, a human resources professor at Georgetown. Otherwise, your empty chair may raise eyebrows — and questions about whether you’re slacking.

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The first time I wrote about Sean Egan and his small, independent credit-research firm, Egan-Jones Ratings Co., was in December 2007 for a column about the bond insurer MBIA Inc. And man, did he nail it.

The three big credit raters — Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings — all had AAA ratings on MBIA’s insurance unit, their highest grade. Egan said it deserved much lower. Anyone reading MBIA’s financial reports could see the company was losing money and needed billions of dollars of fresh capital.

By mid-2008, the Big Three had cut their ratings. Once again, Egan, a lonely voice of reason who saw the financial crisis coming, had shown his larger competitors to be incompetent or compromised. It was one of many great calls to come for Egan-Jones. As for MBIA, which had no revenue last quarter, it’s still struggling.

So if you had told me back then that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division more than four years later would be accusing Egan, and his firm, of securities-law violations — but not any of the big rating companies — there’s no way I would have believed you. That’s what happened last week, though.

Life isn’t fair, as they say. The big raters, paid by the issuers of securities they grade, so far have gotten a pass, even after helping cause the financial crisis by slapping AAA scores on oodles of subprime-mortgage dreck. Egan-Jones, with fewer than 20 employees, makes its money by selling subscriptions to investors, meaning it’s not beholden to issuers. Yet Egan and his firm are getting pinched, although nothing in the SEC’s administrative complaint indicates investors were harmed.

None of this is to excuse infractions Egan-Jones might have committed. We will have to wait and see if the agency’s claims stick in court. That said, it seems Egan-Jones’ mistake was to seek recognition from the SEC at all.

The allegations mainly concern the application Egan-Jones filed with the agency in 2008 to expand its license as a so-called nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The firm, based in Haverford, Pa., first received that designation in 2007 for rating corporate debt, insurance companies and banks. Its 2008 application, which the SEC approved, sought recognition as a rater of asset-backed securities and government bonds.

Egan-Jones at the time said it had about 150 ratings on issuers of asset-backed securities and about 50 on government-debt issuers. The complaint said those numbers were overstated and that the firm hadn’t made any such ratings publicly available free online credit report. Attorneys for Egan, 54, and the firm say their clients filled out the SEC’s application based on their understanding of what the form required.

Additionally, the complaint accused Egan-Jones of committing numerous book-and-record violations, such as failing to maintain a system for retaining e-mails. It also said the firm let two analysts participate in determining ratings for companies in which they owned securities, in violation of agency rules. An attorney for the defendants, Alan Futerfas, said the claims are without merit.

What about the big rating companies? McGraw-Hill Cos., S&P’s parent, in September said the SEC’s staff had issued S&P a “Wells notice” warning that the agency may seek penalties over its rating of a $1.6 billion collateralized debt obligation in 2007. S&P received its letter the month before Egan got its Wells notice. There’s no telling if the SEC will follow through.

In 2010, the SEC issued an investigative report that said a Moody’s rating committee in 2007 knowingly decided to keep inflated ratings on about $1 billion of notes after discovering an error in one of the firm’s models. Later in 2007, Moody’s applied to the SEC for recognition under the same 2006 federal law that Egan-Jones saw as its chance to join the same club as the Big Three.

The rating process used by Moody’s in that instance violated the policies described in the company’s application, the SEC said. However, the report said the agency decided not to accuse Moody’s of violating any laws, because some of the conduct occurred outside the U.S., presenting jurisdictional hurdles. Lucky break, I guess.

The way Congress and the SEC have rigged this game, nationally recognized credit raters are a unique species of opinion merchants, endowed with sweeping authority and special privileges. Institutional money managers often are required by law to abide by their judgments. The better approach would be to scrap the designation, so investors are encouraged to do their own homework.

Egan-Jones, which has been in business since 1992, could have continued as an independent, not subject to government oversight or control. Instead it chose to play within the Big Three’s system, exposing itself to the whims of the SEC. Now it’s paying the price.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says further bond purchases by the Fed remain “very much on the table” if the economy needs further support.

Bernanke says the central bank remains prepared to take additional actions, referring to a possible third round of bond buying. Two now-expired programs of Fed bond purchases have been intended to push down long-term interest rates to encourage borrowing and spending.

Bernanke is speaking at a news conference after a two-day policy meeting.

He says the central bank believes that while inflation has risen lately, it will remain within the Fed’s 2 percent target.

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Anheuser-Busch continues to roll out new barrels in this spring full of new product launches.

Next up? Bud Light Lime-A-Rita, the brewery’s take on that classic cocktail. It “blends the flavor of an authentic margarita with a refreshing splash of Bud Light Lime,” says A-B, and at 8 percent alcohol by volume, it’s got a little kick to it.

Like Michelob Ultra Light Cider, Lime-A-Rita’s another bid by A-B to capture the sweeter palates of today’s younger, more spirits-oriented drinkers Payday Loan for Bad Credit. Like Bud Light Platinum, it’s also leveraging the name of a strong existing brand.

It’ll hit stores this week. In 8 oz. and 24 oz. cans and 12 ounce bottles. If you’re curious, A-B recommends it straight from the can, or over ice.

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Iraq says oil exports jumped by 15 percent in March compared to the previous month, putting them at the highest level the nation has seen since 1989.

Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said Sunday that last month’s oil exports averaged 2.31 million barrels a day, up from an average of 2.01 million barrels a day in February.

He added that the sales grossed $8.472 billion, an increase of nearly 28.5 percent from February’s revenues of $6 guaranteed high risk personal loans.595 billion.

The oil was sold to a 28 international oil companies.

Iraq relies on oil exports for 95 percent of its revenues. The increase is attributed to the inauguration of a new export terminal in the Persian Gulf last month.

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Governments committed more than $400 billion in fresh money to the International Monetary Fund to help it protect the world economy against deepening debt turmoil in Europe.

That sum is contained in the draft of a statement obtained by Bloomberg News which will be released by Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers after a meeting now under way in Washington. Specific country contributions will be decided ahead of a Mexican summit of G-20 leaders in June, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.

The near-doubling of the fund