HOUSTON – A Houston-area hospital administrator was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for his role in a $16 million health care fraud scheme.
Officials said Starsky Bomer, 46, along with co-conspirators, submitted to Medicare approximately $16 million in false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services, which is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.
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During his trial, evidence showed Boomer and his alleged co-conspirators paid Bomer bribes and kickbacks to group home owners and patient recruiters in exchange for sending Medicare patients to Atrium Medical Center and Pristine Healthcare's PHPs.
The DOJ said those bribes and kickbacks were disguised as salary payments and transportation payments to the group home owners in exchange for patient referrals.
Evidence showed Bomer knew many of those patients did not qualify for and were not provided those partial hospital services, the DOJ said.
In addition to his prison term, Bomer was ordered to pay $6,277,575.77 in restitution and to forfeit $158,260.
Bomer's sentences came after being convicted on one count of conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks, two counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud from a November 2017 superseding indictment.