East Texas Ambulance Operator Sentenced For Health Care Fraud

A 57-year-old Longview, Texas, man has been sentenced for federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.

Joseph Valdie Kimble pleaded guilty on Sep. 11, 2019, to health care fraud and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.  Kimble was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $751,986.30 to Medicare and Medicaid and was ordered not to seek or retain employment in the health care fraud industry while serving three years of supervised release.

According to information presented in court, Kimble operated Tiger EMS, a business providing non-emergency ambulance transport, mostly between skilled nursing centers and hospitals and dialysis centers.  Ambulance providers may bill for ambulance services only if there is a demonstrated medical need, which requires that either a beneficiary be bed-confined and it is documented that other methods of transportation are contraindicated; or the beneficiary’s medical condition is such that transportation by ambulance is medically required.  Kimble disregarded medical necessity requirements and billed Medicare and Medicaid for ambulance services provided to patients for whom ambulance transport was not medically necessary.