HOUSTON, Texas — Harris County Hospital District officials notified about 3,000 patients Aug. 30 that their information — including addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and Social Security numbers — might have been stolen by a former employee accused of operating a Medicare kickback scheme.
Jarvis Thomas is accused of selling patient information to Jackson Home Healthcare owner Valdie Jackson, who disclosed that information to others, including employees of Houston Compassionate Care Inc., operated by Valnita Turner, the Houston Chronicle reports. Jackson and Turner then determined if the patients were Medicare eligible, and solicited those who were eligible for home health care services. They allegedly billed Medicare for services not needed or not provided.
Thomas, Jackson and Turner are each charged with one count of conspiracy to disclose individually identifiable health information between 2008 and 2011, according to the federal indictment.
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