Texas health exec told dementia patients they’d die soon to make millions, feds say
A Texas healthcare executive was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from Medicare by lying about how long patients with incurable diseases would live so he could enroll them in hospice programs, according to a news release this week from the Department of Justice.
Rodney Mesquias, 48, of San Antonio falsely told “thousands of patients with long-term incurable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, they had less than six months to live and subsequently enrolled them in hospice programs,” the release said.
“It is unconscionable and evil to prey upon the most vulnerable in our community to commit fraud against government-funded programs,” Christopher Combs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s San Antonio division, said in the release.
Mesquias “owned and controlled the Merida Group, a large health care company that operated dozens of locations throughout Texas,” according to the release. He and co-conspirators made “$150 million in false and fraudulent claims for hospice and health care services” between 2009 and 2018 to Medicare “to fund lavish personal spending,” the release said.
Patients on such hospice care can’t get coverage for “curative medical services,” according to the release. Some of the victims of this scheme “were walking, driving, working and even coaching athletic sporting events in some instances,” before they were “aggressively enrolled” in hospice care, the release said.
Mesquias used the stolen money to buy “a Porsche, expensive jewelry, luxury clothing from high-end retailers such as Louis Vuitton, exclusive real estate, season tickets for premium sporting events and a security detail and bottle service at high-end Las Vegas nightclubs,” according to the release. He also gave tens of thousands of dollars worth of alcohol to doctors “in exchange for medically unnecessary patient referrals,” the release said.
Mesquias fired employees who didn’t want to go along with the scheme, according to the release. He also obstructed justice by falsifying medical records and giving them to a federal grand jury, the release said.
“Mesquias and his co-conspirator Henry McInnis, 48, were both convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to obstruct justice,” according to the release. They were both convicted of six counts of health care fraud and Mesquias was also “convicted on one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks,” the release said.
McInnis’ sentencing will take place at a later date, as will the sentencing for two other co-conspirators who pleaded guilty, according to the release.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 12:56 PM.