Case Assignment
On February 13, 2019, Sandra Thompson was before the Court with the motion of dismissing the indictment on the ground of double jeopardy. The first thing the subject indictment charged Ms. Thompson with was the conspiracy of committing health care. The second thing was fraud conspiracy as a way of paying and receiving illegal remunerations. The third included five counts of fraud in health care, and the fourth being five counts that came with illegal payment. Sandra appealed her conviction for conspiracy, health care kickback receipts, and health care fraud. The jury convicted her in Louisiana’s Eastern District due to her participating in a scandalous health care scheme at Psalms 23, where she was a working as a medical marketer (Department of Justice, 2018). In her appeal, the woman argued that there was no enough evidence that could sustain her convictions and that the district court had gone against its discretion through not giving the jury with the proposed theory of defense that Thompson brought up.
Thompson was also charged with willfully and knowingly receiving kickback in return in the course of referring Medicare beneficiaries for the arrangement and furnishing of services and items for payments that had been made through the Medicare program. In actuality, Thompson sold the Medicare number that came with Medicare beneficiaries to Tracy Richardson Brown, her codefendant, for cash with the knowledge that the numbers would have been used by Brown as well as by her durable medical equipment company (DME) (Department of Justice, 2018).
The somewhat fraudulent scheme allegedly led by Thompson and Brown included DMEs that were being distributed by Psalm. These included power wheelchairs, inter ilia, PWCs accessories, and the commonly called arthritis kits. Psalms gave Medicare billing for giving DMEs, having the claim of the subject DME being medically required by, and being given to Medicare beneficiaries (KALB, 2018). However, the Government contended that a large part of the DMEs was not medically needed and, in a majority of the instances, not catered for.
Thompson had to be convicted in the same scheme, where the caterer for the equipment was an organization called Lobdale. The organization was a DME company that operated in the Baton Rouge area. The conspiracy took place between February 2006 and November 2009. Lobdale reimbursed kickbacks to Sandra. Dr. Jase had been involved in the scheme for the allegedly having to write the unneeded prescriptions as it had been alleged in the immediate indictment (Little, 2020). However, none of the other defendants mentioned in the Baton Rouge case were mentioned in this indictment.
Thompson was convicted for 13 counts of fraud in health care in the infringement and a single count conspiracy of paying and receiving illegal remunerations that violated the 18 USC 371. Sandra had to serve 18 months on the charges as well as paying $1400 as an assessment fee and $129, 200 in restitution (Little, 2020). The outcome was appropriate because the Court found Brown and Lobdale prosecutions as being two separate conspiracies, therefore denying a motion to dismiss the indictment with regards to double jeopardy.
The case is but an example of the many billions lost in healthcare fraud every year. It brings about the importance of a program for corporate compliance and how it can aid in minimizing the risk of scams in health care organizations. Medical practices identify an effective compliance program that may be the first line of defense (KALB, 2018). The main goal of the compliance is on promoting criminal conduct prevention, enforcing government regulations and rules, while also catering for quality care for patients.