Joseph Valdie Kimble, Health Care Fraud, Texas 2019

A 57-year-old Longview, Texas man has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for health care fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.

Joseph Valdie Kimble pleaded guilty on September 11, 2019, to health care fraud and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle. Kimble was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $751,986.30 to Medicare and Medicaid and was ordered not to seek or retain employment in the health care fraud industry while serving three years of supervised release.

According to information presented in court, Kimble operated Tiger EMS, a business providing non-emergency ambulance transport, mostly between skilled nursing centers and hospitals and dialysis centers. Ambulance providers may bill for ambulance services only if there is a demonstrated medical need, which requires that either a beneficiary be bed-confined and it is documented that other methods of transportation are contraindicated; or the beneficiary's medical condition is such that transportation by ambulance is medically required.

Kimble disregarded medical necessity requirements and billed Medicare and Medicaid for ambulance services provided to patients for whom ambulance transport was not medically necessary.

This case was investigated by U.S. Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alan R. Jackson and Frank Coan.

The investigation revealed that Kimble's actions were a blatant disregard for the law and a betrayal of the trust placed in him as a healthcare provider. His sentencing serves as a reminder that those who engage in such fraudulent activities will be held accountable for their actions.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown said, 'The sentence imposed today serves as a reminder that healthcare fraud will not be tolerated in the Eastern District of Texas.'

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/longview-ambulance-operator-sentenced-health-care-fraud