Lifestyle
16 Texans Have Been Charged in a Major Health Care Scheme
Sixteen Texans are facing a $250,000 fine and a possible federal prison sentence of up to 10 years after they took part in a $60 million Medicare scheme. CBS DFW writes that the group from Novus Health Services, a Frisco-based hospice, spent four years manipulating the Medicare system. They paid $35 million to their company by “submitting false claims for hospice services, false claims for continuous care hospice services, and recruiting doctors and healthcare facilities for patient information of individuals ineligible for hospice in return for money.”
What makes matters worse is the fact that those in need of medical care were mistreated as well. The Novus Health Service employees would decide how to treat patients by weighing how much money they could get from Medicare.
NBC DFW quoted a statement from U.S. Attorney John Parker who said, “That these defendants used human life at its most vulnerable stage as the grist for this scheme displays a shocking level of depravity that this community simply cannot tolerate.”
The 16 individuals charged in the crime include doctors who would falsely sign off on treatments for patients they didn’t see and other staff members ranging in age from 29 to 64.
