Phila. doctor gets 51 months’ imprisonment for kickback conviction in Medicare, Medicaid scheme

A Philadelphia physician will be spending the next three-plus years in

federal prison for his participation in a kickback scheme arising from his employment with a hospice agency.

Eugene Goldman, 55, who served as the medical director for Home Care Hospice Inc. from December 2000 to the summer of 2011, was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to 51 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a $300,000 fine for violating the federal anti-kickback statute and conspiring to violate the statute, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, which announced the sentence.

During trial, prosecutors were able to prove that Goldman, who as part of his position regularly referred Medicare or Medicaid patient beneficiaries to Home Care Hospice, and one of HCG’s co-owners entered into a written contract to create the false appearance that all payments to Goldman from the agency were for services he rendered in connection with his capacity as HCH medical director, when most of the money actually constituted illegal payments for the referral of Medicare and/or Medicaid patients to HCH, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger.

The government alleged that from January 2003 to July 2011, Goldman received about $309,000 in illegal payments for patient referrals.

Investigators caught Goldman on tape in January, February and March 2009 receiving kickbacks for his patient referrals, the prosecutor’s office stated.

The case was investigated by agents with the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, and Office of Inspector General.

Memeger’s office stated that Goldman was ordered to immediately begin serving his sentence.

The judge also gave the defendant three years of supervised release after the prison sentence is complete.

Goldman also faces mandatory exclusion from participation in any federal healthcare program.