Indictment: Health exec falsely collected $800k in incentive payments

A federal grand jury has indicted former chief financial officer and administrator Joe White of the now-shuttered Shelby Regional Medical Center in east Texas for collecting $800,000 in EHR incentive payments under false pretenses, according to an article in the Dallas Morning News.

White, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, also is charged with identity theft.

The indictment accuses White of falsely certifying compliance with Meaningful Use, noting that the medical center’s electronic platform only was used “minimally” and that the hospital continued to use paper and uncertified technology. Moreover, the indictment charges White with using a computer ID and Social Security number belonging to another employee who refused to attest that the hospital met the criteria to receive the money, according to the article.

White also hired a company to manually input data from paper records and other sources into the incomplete electronic system, which happened “often times many months after the patient was discharged from the hospital, in an effort to meet the required thresholds” of the criteria, according to the indictment.