Two former laboratory sales executives have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a physician kickback scheme, according to an April 29 news release from the Justice Department.
What happened?
- Stephen Kash, of Winnie, Texas, and Courtney Love, of Dallas, were convicted for participating in a conspiracy that incentivized physicians to refer patients to certain rural hospitals and an affiliated laboratory in exchange for kickbacks disguised as investment returns.
- The two rural hospitals involved — Little River Healthcare in Rockdale and Stamford Memorial Hospital — had partnered with True Health Diagnostics, a Frisco-based lab specializing in advanced cardiovascular lipid testing.
- Under the scheme, blood tests were processed by True Health Diagnostics, while the hospitals billed insurers for the tests as if they were hospital outpatient services, a significantly higher reimbursement rate than the lab could obtain on its own.
- To facilitate the scheme, the hospitals relied on a network of marketers who ran management services organizations. These MSOs offered supposed investment opportunities to physicians across Texas. In reality, the MSOs served as a conduit for kickback payments in return for the physicians’ laboratory referrals, according to the Justice Department.
- Mr. Kash was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $779,773 in criminal proceeds. Ms. Love received a sentence of 12 months and one day, and was ordered to forfeit $217,269 in proceeds from the scheme.
Who else is involved?
- On Sept. 22, 2022, additional individuals — Christopher Grottenthaler, Blake Whitaker, Chrissy Alfaro, Charles Dickens, Marty Flores and Frederick Brown — were indicted in connection with the same scheme.
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