The former leader of a rural hospital chain has been convicted for his role in an elaborate pass-through billing scheme, the Justice Department announced June 27.
After a 24-day trial, Jorge Perez, 62, of Miami, was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering of proceeds greater than $10,000.
Prosecutors said Mr. Perez conspired with others to bill for $1.4 billion of medically unnecessary laboratory testing services. He used rural hospitals as billing shells to submit claims for services that were mostly performed at outside laboratories.
The evidence presented at trial showed that Mr. Perez and other defendants targeted and obtained control of financially distressed rural hospitals through management agreements and purchases. They targeted rural hospitals because they often get higher reimbursement rates for laboratory testing from private insurers, according to the Justice Department.
The defendants promised to save the rural hospitals from closure by turning them into laboratory testing sites, but instead billed for fraudulent laboratory testing. Through the scheme, Mr. Perez and others made it appear the laboratory testing was performed at the rural hospitals when, in most cases, it was done by outside testing laboratories owned by defendants, prosecutors said.
"After private insurance companies began to question the defendants' billings, they would move on to another rural hospital, leaving the rural hospitals they took over in the same or worse financial status as before," the Justice Department said. At least three of the hospitals were forced to close.
Ricardo Perez, 59, of Miami, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering of proceeds greater than $10,000 on June 27. He is Jorge Perez's brother, according to Kaiser Health News.