Henry Geoffrey Watson, a medical doctor residing in Oakland, California, was convicted by a federal jury of charges that included accepting kickbacks for patient referrals to home health agencies, healthcare fraud, and false statements relating to a healthcare matter. The jury found that Watson, 67, engaged in three healthcare kickback schemes from 2013 to 2019, using his position as a licensed medical doctor. The first scheme involved a conspiracy in which Watson agreed to refer patients to home health agency Amity Home Health Care in exchange for illegal kickback payments. In the second scheme proved at trial, Watson accepted kickback payments from an undercover FBI agent posing as a home health agency representative seeking Watson’s agreement to refer his patients to a particular Bay Area home health agency. The third scheme proved at trial involved a conspiracy between Watson and others to repeatedly and falsely certify individuals for Medicare-funded home health services that the individuals did not seek and did not need.
