HOUSTON
The former president of a Houston hospital, his son along with a co-conspirator were sentenced Tuesday to 45 years, 20 years and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to officials.
“The former President of Houston’s Riverside hospital, his son and their co-conspirators saw mentally ill, elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries as commodities to be turned into profit centers – not as vulnerable individuals in need of health care,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell. “Rather than providing needed medical care to a historically underserved community, the defendants ran a longstanding hospital into the ground through their greed and fraud. According to the evidence presented at trial, the defendants had patients sit around the facility watching movies while they received no treatment. Meanwhile, the defendants billed Medicare more than $158 million for care that was never provided. This brazen fraud cannot and will not be tolerated.”
U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal sentenced Earnest Gibson III, 70, the former president of Riverside General Hospital and Earnest Gibson IV, 37, the operator of Devotions Care Solutions, a satellite psychiatric facility of Riverside General Hospital, officials said.
The judge sentenced Regina Askew, 50, the owner Safe and Sound group homes, to 12 years and ordered her to pay $46.2 million in restitution.
Also the judge ordered Gibson III to pay restitution in the amount of $46.7 million, and his son to pay $7.5 million, according to authorities.
Riverside General Hospital, a historic institution crippled recently by scandal and mismanagement, surrendered its substance abuse treatment license last year as part of a bid to stay in business in a severely reduced capacity, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle newspaper.
The hospital stopped drug abuse and psychiatric treatment and would provide only detoxification services, officials said.
The state’s top health official traveled to Houston last year to tour the organization’s three campuses for a first-hand look at problems from fire alarms and air conditioning to patient records and food-preparation conditions, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Following a five-week jury trial, on Oct. 20, 2014, Earnest Gibson III, Earnest Gibson IV and Regina Askew each were convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, as well as related counts of paying or receiving illegal kickbacks, officials stated.
Co-defendant Robert Crane, a patient recruiter, also was convicted of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9, 2015.
To date, six other individuals either have pleaded guilty based on their involvement in the scheme.
This case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,100 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion.