DALLAS (CN) - A federal jury Wednesday convicted a Dallas-area doctor of running a $375 million home health care fraud that prosecutors called the largest ever involving one doctor.
Among the charges were that recruiters were paid to round up homeless people and sign them up for medical services that they didn't need.
Convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud were Dr. Jacques Roy, 58, of Rockwall; Cynthia Stiger, 53, of Dallas; Wilbert James Veasey, Jr., 64, of Dallas; and Charity Eleda, R.N., 55, of Rowlett.
Roy also was convicted of eight counts of health care fraud, two counts of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of justice. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy and health care fraud and up to five years and a $250,000 fine for each count of obstruction of justice.
U.S. Attorney John Parker said Roy used "sophisticated techniques" which, in the end, "drive up the costs of health care."
The trial lasted six weeks before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay. Jurors deliberated for less than two days.
After Roy was indicted in 2012 , prosecutors said the "evidence of Dr. Roy's guilt is strong" and that he showed "brazen disregard for legal and administrative process."
"And perhaps most importantly, Dr. Roy has created a false identity and squirreled away millions of dollars of assets that likely would be available to him should he choose to flee," prosecutors said at the time.
Roy owned and operated Medistat Group Associates, P.A., an association of home health care providers who performed home visits and provided home health certifications.
"Stiger, Veasey and Eleda, along with others, improperly recruited individuals with Medicare coverage to sign up for Medicare home health care services," prosecutors said Wednesday.
"Eleda recruited patients from The Bridge homeless shelter in Dallas, sometimes paying recruiters $50 per beneficiary they found and directed to her vehicle parked outside the shelter's gates. Eleda and other nurses would falsify medical documents to make it appear as though those beneficiaries qualified for home health care services that were not medically necessary. Eleda and the nurses prepared Plans of Care (POCs), also known as 485's, which were not medically necessary, and these POCs were delivered to Dr. Roy or another physician working under his direction at Medistat."
Prosecutors said Medistat was essentially a "boiler room" that posted fraudulent signatures and certifications for thousands of POCs. They showed jurors evidence involving more than 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries from more than 500 home health agencies.
Roy tried to run an end-around through another company, Medcare House Calls, after federal regulators suspended him for possible Medicare fraud, prosecutors said.
"Dr. Roy directed the medical providers he employed to be re-credentialed and to bill Medicare under Medcare House Calls, instead of Medistat," prosecutors said. "Nonetheless, the money that Medicare paid was circumvented back to Medistat and Dr. Roy."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services imposed a moratorium on enrollment of home health agencies in 2014 in several cities due to widespread fraud . It cited Dallas and Houston as having a "disproportionate number of home-health providers."
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