The CEO of a group of Texas-based hospice and home health companies was sentenced Feb. 3 to 15 years in prison for his role in a $150 million healthcare fraud and money laundering scheme, according to the Department of Justice.
Henry McInnis was sentenced more than a year after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, obstruction of justice and healthcare fraud.
From 2009 to 2018, Mr. McInnis and others submitted more than $150 million in false and fraudulent claims for healthcare services. The claims were submitted through Merida Group, a hospice company with dozens of locations in Texas.
Mr. McInnis was CEO of Merida. He had no medical training but acted as the director of nursing for the company. He also enforced a companywide practice of falsifying medical records to conceal the scheme and ordered employees to change medical records to make it appear patients were terminally ill.
Mr. McInnis also paid bribes to physicians to certify unqualified patients for home health and hospice.
Mr. McInnis was sentenced less than two months after the owner of Merida Group, Rodney Mesquias, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $120 million in restitution.
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By Ayla Ellison, Febryary 6, 2021, published on Hospital Review
