HOUSTON
A federal jury convicted a Houston psychiatrist for his involvement in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment, federal officials announced today.
Officials said Sharon Iglehart, 58, of Harris County, Texas, was convicted Thursday of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of health care fraud and three counts of making false statements relating to health care matters, following a seven-day jury trial.
U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. of the Southern District of Texas is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5.
From 2006 to June 2012, Iglehart and others engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting, through Riverside General Hospital, approximately $158 million in false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program services to Medicare.
The hospitalization program is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.
The evidence presented at trial showed that the Medicare beneficiaries for whom Riverside billed Medicare did not receive these services.
Most of the Medicare beneficiaries for whom Riverside billed Medicare rarely saw a psychiatrist and did not receive intensive psychiatric treatment, the court evidence indicated.
In addition, evidence presented at trial showed that Iglehart personally billed Medicare for individual psychotherapy and other treatment to patients at Riverside locations – treatment that she never provided.
The evidence at trial also demonstrated that Iglehart falsified the medical records of patients at Riverside’s inpatient facility to make it appear as if she provided psychiatric treatment when, in fact, she did not
To date, 12 others previously have been convicted of offenses based on their roles in the fraudulent scheme, according to authorities.
Earnest Gibson III, the former president of Riverside; Earnest Gibson IV, the operator of one of Riverside’s mental health services satellite locations; Regina Askew, a group home owner and patient file auditor; and Robert Crane, a patient recruiter, were all convicted after a jury trial in October 2014.
Earnest Gibson III was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Earnest Gibson IV was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Regina Askew was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Robert Crane has not yet been sentenced.
Mohammad Khan, an assistant administrator at the hospital, who managed many of the hospital’s program, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
William Bullock, an operator of a Riverside satellite location, as well as Leslie Clark, Robert Ferguson, Waddie McDuffie and Sharonda Holmes, who were all involved in paying or receiving kickbacks, also pleaded guilty.
Bullock, Clark and Ferguson await sentencing.