Hospice physician’s convictions and $15 million in restitution affirmed for ‘pervasive’ fraud

Hospice physician’s convictions and $15 million in restitution affirmed for ‘pervasive’ fraud 
Wolters Kluwer | Vital Law®; by Justin Marcus Smith, J.D.; 8/15/24 
The Fifth Circuit found it circumstantially telling that the jurors saw multiple hospice patients testifying at trial nearly a decade after the convicted physician had recommended them for end of life care. In an unpublished opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a physician’s conviction for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and for seven individual counts of healthcare fraud in connection with hospice care service recommendations. Applying de novo review, the court affirmed the convictions on the basis that the government presented enough circumstantial evidence, without direct evidence of intent, for a reasonable jury to have found guilt. With respect to sentencing, the circumstances surrounding 7,000 hospice claims formed a basis for fraud so pervasive that the government did not need to “sift” through each of the claims.