Re: Re: Former Hidalgo County Commissioner and wife found guilty of defrauding healthcare programs

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Former Hidalgo County Commissioner and wife found guilty of defrauding

healthcare programs

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April 14, 2008 - 5:04PM

L. Berghom

McALLEN - A federal jury on Monday convicted former Hidalgo County commissioner

Guadalupe Garces and his wife Araceli of using their ambulance company to

defraud Medicare and Medicaid of millions of dollars.

The Garceses were found guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern

District of Texas of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and several counts

of health care fraud while operating A-Stat Ambulance Inc. The couple submitted

more than $14 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid from

2001-2006, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The ambulance company would pick up dialysis patients who were able to walk or

sit in a wheelchair and take them to treatment, knowing that transporting them

was not necessary and would not merit reimbursement from Medicare of Medicaid.

Medicare covers scheduled, non-emergency ambulance services only if patients are

bed-ridden or cannot sit in a chair or wheelchair or if their medical conditions

require them to be taken to treatment via ambulance.

But in A-Stat's case, it would bill Medicare and Medicaid for reimbursement,

using falsified run sheets that stated the patients met transportation criteria.

The couple also incorporated another ambulance company, A Care E.M.S., in 2004

under their 20-year-old son's name and had him apply for Medicare and Medicaid

provider numbers after Medicare suspended all payments to A-Stat Ambulance.

The former operations director for that company, Rodney Lee Ramos, pleaded

guilty to fraud charges last year and awaits sentencing.

Guadalupe Garces was a Hidalgo County commissioner representing Precinct 4 from

1995-1999 and an Edinburg-area justice of the peace before his election to the

commission.

He and his wife are each out on $100,000 bond while they await sentencing. A

hearing has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. July 18 in U.S. District Court for the

Southern District of Texas.

They face a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine

plus restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor.

She can be reached at .

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