Texas hospital execs charged in fraudulent billing scheme
FILE - Handcuffs sitting on a table. (Bernd Wüstneck/picture alliance via Getty Image)
EL PASO, Texas - Two men are facing wire fraud charges after federal attorneys say they illegally billed $16 million in tests at a pair of El Paso hospitals.
Jose Herta, 58, was the chief executive officer of two long-term acute care hospitals in El Paso.
Israel Navarro, 47, owned one of the hospitals and was financially connected to the other.
Prosecutors said the two men worked together to illegally bill urine drug tests.
Prosecutors said the two men billed Blue Cross Blue Shield for the tests, claiming they were from patients at the hospital. They also claimed the tests were sent to a lab in Dallas, which prosecutors said was not true.
The loss to Blue Cross Blue Shield is estimated at around $12 million.
Navarro, who has ties to Puerto Rico and Dallas, turned himself in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and had his first appearance in court on July 22. Navarro was released on a $150,000 bond.
Herta turned himself in to FBI agents in El Paso a day later. He was released on a $50,000 bond.
What's next:
Both were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Each count carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine in convicted.
What is pass-through billing?
Pass-through billing is when a doctor orders a service, but doesn't perform the service, then bills the insurance company for the service.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the U.S. District Attorney's Office.