Dive Brief:
- Four individuals—former president of Riverside Hospital, Earnest Gibson III, his son, Earnest Gibson IV, Regina Askew and Robert Crane—were convicted on Monday for taking $158 million in Medicare funds for psychiatric care that was not rendered at the Texas institution.
- The plaintiffs claimed that the group spent more than six years providing what they deemed intensive psychiatric treatment to patients. During that time, though, patients watched television, couldn’t understand therapy because of dementia or didn’t even go to the hospital.
- The former hospital president claimed that he was deceived by the other three defendants. Sentencing will be held in February in federal court and fines can run anywhere from 80 years to five years for the group.
Dive Insight:
The challenges for the hospital began after the executive commissioner from Texas Health and Human Services toured the provider's three campuses in 2012. He was there to investigate problems with everything from fire alarms and patient records to food preparation.
"They are part of an important safety net for us, and before we take a dramatic action, I wanted to see myself what was going on," said commissioner Kyle Janek. "I told them I could not justify letting them stay open as a facility, nor can I justify state dollars going for care there."
An indictment followed in late 2012, naming 11 people in alleged fraudulent actions since 2005. Many of the individuals pleaded guilty to vie for sentencing leniency. After the indictment, the facility stopped providing substance abuse and psychiatric treatment, opting to provide only detoxification services in an attempt to keep its doors open.