The owner of a skilled nursing ambulance provider was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $752,000 after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kimble handed down the sentence Friday to 57-year-old Joseph Valdie Kimble, of Longview, TX, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas disclosed. He pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud charges in September.
Kimble served as the operator of the now-closed Tiger EMS, which provided non-emergency transport services, mostly between skilled nursing centers, hospitals and dialysis centers. He billed the Medicare and Medicaid programs for ambulance transport services provided to patients even though the transport services were medically unnecessary.
Providers can only bill for ambulance services if there is a demonstrated medical need, the U.S. Attorney’s Office explained.
Kimble was ordered to pay a total of $751,986.30 in restitution to Medicare and Medicaid. He also was ordered not to seek or retain employment in the healthcare industry during three years of supervised release.
