LONGVIEW, Texas — A Texas man who operated a private ambulance service must serve 30 months in federal prison and pay more than $750,000 in restitution after being convicted for fraudulently billing Medicare and Medicaid.
Joseph Valdie Kimble, who operated non-emergency medical transport service Tiger EMS, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud in September, according to CBS 19. He was officially sentenced Friday following a plea agreement.
Services like Kimble’s are only authorized to bill Medicare and Medicaid if a medical need is demonstrated, but prosecutors said Kimble ignored this requirement and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts for transports that were not medically necessary.
Source: $750K Medicare fraud leads to prison sentence for former EMS operator / EMS1.com