Dive Brief:
- Edward Novak, the former CEO of Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years on Wednesday for bribing doctors to send patients to his substandard hospital. He was convicted in March of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to doctors for Medicare and Medicaid patient referrals to his hospital.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Hammerman told the judge that Novak didn’t just run a hospital, he ran a kickback conspiracy.
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Novak was convicted in March along with Sacred Heart chief operating officer Clarence Naglevoort and finance chief Roy Payawal, who will be sentenced later this week.
Dive Insight:
The FBI raided the hospital in 2013 after allegations that doctors were essentially kidnapping patients and bringing them there for unnecessary procedures and then billing Medicaid and Medicare. The hospital was shut down July 1.