Everyone In the “Fraud Soup” Together

Perhaps you remember the CEO of a hospice in the Dallas area, Novus Health Care Services, who texted staff members urging them to administer drugs to patients to avoid exceeding per patient spending caps.? He then sent texts praising them when patients passed away from the drugs he had urged them to administer: “Good job!”? There were also accusations of recruiting ineligible patients and falsifying documentation.? Ever wonder what happened to him and other staff members?

Well, here’s the scoop!

• Sixteen individuals from the hospice were indicted and at least eleven of them pled guilty.
• Thirteen individuals involved in these activities were sentenced to a combined eighty-four years in prison.
• The most recent sentence of four years in prison was imposed on the hospice’s marketing director.
• The CEO of the Hospice was sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
• Two Medical Directors decided to go to trial instead of pleading guilty.? They were sentenced to thirteen years and ten years in prison.
• A nurse involved in these activities was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
• An LVN who received a text from the CEO saying “good job” after she administered drugs to a patient who then passed away was sentenced to eight years in prison.
• A triage nurse was sentenced to seven years in prison.
• The Director of Operations was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
• A Medical Director who pleaded guilty received a sentence of four years and nine months.
• The VP of Patient Services was sentenced to three years in prison.
• The VP of Marketing was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail.
• A nurse was also sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
• An owner of a lab and home health agency was also sent to jail for eighteen months because she allowed the CEO to access potential patients’ confidential medical information in exchange for using services provided by her companies.

Can you imagine the effect on professionals who surely also lost their licenses and their families? ?Not to mention patients and their families!

The lesson in this heartbreaking story is that fraud enforcement is not limited to owners and upper management.? Enforcers will dump everyone who engaged in inappropriate conduct into the “fraud soup.”? Therefore, when providers refuse to engage in fraudulent conduct, they are not only protecting themselves, but everyone else involved.

?2024 Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq.? All rights reserved.

No portion of this material may be duplicated by any means without the advance written permission of the author.