Three medical professionals who helped a local hospice agency scam Medicare have been convicted of healthcare fraud. On Monday, a federal jury found Novus Health Services Medical Directors Dr. Mark Gibbs and Dr. Laila Hirjee, along with Novus RN Tammie Little, guilty of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Additionally, the jury found Dr. Gibbs guilty of two counts of healthcare fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, Dr. Hirjee guilty of three counts of healthcare fraud and one Title 21 drug offense, and Ms. Little guilty of three counts of healthcare fraud. (Dr. Gibbs was acquitted of one of the three healthcare fraud counts brought by the government.) According to evidence presented at trial, the defendants helped Novus CEO Bradley Harris defraud Medicare by submitting materially false claims for hospice services, providing kickbacks for referrals, violating HIPAA to recruit beneficiaries, and destroying documents to conceal the fraud from Medicare. Mr. Harris, who pleaded guilty prior to trial, testified against his former employees. In total, Medicare and Medicaid paid the Novus entities approximately $40 million dollars for hospice services before the companies were shut down.
