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Texas Hospital Exec Gets 10 Years in Prison For $16M Fraud Scheme

Analysis  |  By John Commins  
   September 23, 2019

Starsky Bomer, 46, the former CFO/COO at Atrium Medical Center Pristine Healthcare, was also ordered to pay more than $6.2 million in restitution.

A Houston-area hospital executive has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a $16 million Medicare fraud scheme involving partial hospitalization programs, the Department of Justice said.

Starsky Bomer, 46, the former chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Atrium Medical Center in Stafford, Texas, and Pristine Healthcare in Pasadena, Texas received the sentence this month, 11 months after a jury convicted him of one count of conspiracy to receive healthcare kickbacks, two counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

At trial, prosecutors showed that from 2011 until February 2013, Bomer and his co-conspirtors submitted to Medicare about $16 million in false claims for partial hospitalization program services. 

Bomer ran a scheme that paid bribes and kickbacks to group home owners and patient recruiters in exchange for sending Medicare patients to Atrium and Pristine's PHPs, and disguised the bribes and kickbacks as salaries and transportation payments to group home owners, DOJ said.

Bomer knew that many of the patients admitted to Atrium and Pristine's PHPs did not qualify for and were never provided legitimate partial hospital servicea. 

A federal judge this month also ordered Bomer to pay $6.2 million in restitution and to forfeit another $158,260 in money generated by the scheme.

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.

Photo credit: Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock.com


KEY TAKEAWAYS

From 2011 until February 2013, Bomer and his co-conspirtors submitted to Medicare about $16 million in false claims for partial hospitalization program services.

Bomer ran a scheme that paid bribes and kickbacks to group home owners and patient recruiters in exchange for sending Medicare patients to Atrium and Pristine's PHPs, and disguised the bribes and kickbacks as salaries and transportation payments to group home owners.

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