Hollidaysburg Couple Sentenced for Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

HARRISBURG – A Hollidaysburg couple has been sentenced for conspiring to defraud the United States and commit health care fraud.

John H. Johnson and his wife, Paula Z. Johnson, both 62, were sentenced on September 17, 2024, by U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner.

John H. Johnson, a physician with specialized training in anesthesiology, was sentenced to 97 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. His wife, Paula Z. Johnson, received a sentence of three years of probation, including six months of home detention with location monitoring, and was ordered to immediately pay $249,301.36 in restitution, fines, and assessments.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Johnson entered into an agreement with other individuals to defraud health insurance programs by billing them illegally for expensive tests known as ‘urine drug tests’ in 2016.

‘Ensuring the integrity of health care programs in this age of rising costs is paramount to our mission,’ said Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General. ‘We will continue to work with federal, state, and local partners to hold providers accountable for misconduct that exploits the programs.’

‘Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime. In this case, the defendants caused taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to be diverted from patients who needed care, and instead served their own interests,’ said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia.

In 2016, Lighthouse Medical, under the direction of John H. Johnson, operated a drug testing laboratory on its own premises. UDT (urine drug testing) could be used to test whether patients were taking their medications as prescribed or taking illegal recreational drugs in addition to their prescribed medications.

The couple carried out their agreement through a couple of different groups of pain management practices located throughout central Pennsylvania, known as Lighthouse Medical and Pain Medicine of York (PMY). Johnson and Yentzer, who had no medical training, acquired PMY in 2014 at the suggestion of John H. Johnson, with whom Yentzer was business partners.

PMY absorbed Lighthouse Medical in 2017, and PMY closed permanently in November 2019 after law enforcement agents executed search warrants at its various locations.