Two doctors who helped a local hospice agency scam Medicare were sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for healthcare fraud. In May, a federal jury found Novus Health Services Medical Directors Dr. Mark E. Gibbs and Dr. Laila Hirjee, along with Novus RN Tammie Little, guilty of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and other charges. Dr. Gibbs was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $27,978,903 in restitution; Dr. Hirjee was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $16,253,281 in restitution. Ms. Little was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. According to evidence presented at trial, the defendants helped Novus CEO Bradley Harris defraud Medicare by, among other things, illegally admitting patients who were not appropriate for hospice and submitting materially false claims for hospice services. Mr. Harris, who pleaded guilty prior to trial, testified against his former employees. He told the jury that instead of relying on the expertise of licensed medical professions, he and Novus nurses determined which patients would be admitted to or discharged from hospice care, as well as which drugs and dosages they would receive. They relied upon Novus doctors, including Dr. Gibbs and Dr. Hirjee, to certify that they had examined these patients face-to-face, when no such examinations had occurred, Mr. Harris testified.
