A federal jury found a former administrator of Shreveport, La.-based Physicians Behavioral Hospital — a 24-bed facility that offers psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment — guilty Thursday of 14 counts of paying illegal kickbacks, according to the Department of Justice.
The jury found Tom McCardell guilty after a four-day trial. According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. McCardell paid kickbacks to an Alabama resident in exchange for recruiting and referring patients to PBH. Mr. McCardell allegedly paid the recruiter $41,000 in illegal kickbacks from July 2011 to November 2012, and the hospital billed Medicare for more than $6.7 million dollars for care provided to patients referred through the illegal scheme.
Mr. McCardell awaits sentencing and faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for each of the 14 counts of paying kickbacks, meaning he could face a total of 70 years in prison, according to the DOJ.
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