FL hospital staffers charged with $7M kickback scheme

A group of former employees of a Miami-based hospital have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, accused of involving the hospital in a kickback scheme with a medical supply company that since has gone into bankruptcy. Three former employees of Kendall Regional Medical Center were accused of participating in a scheme with medical supply company Pharmed in which the three helped place phony orders for supplies that were never delivered from January 2001 to June 2007. The HCA facility ended up paying $5.4 million to Pharmed for the never-delivered supplies, as well as $1.5 million to Allied Medical Products.

Before going bankrupt, Pharmed was the eighth-largest Hispanic-owned business in America, with $48 million in profit in 2003. It filed for bankruptcy last fall after several clients left, including HCA, which severed relations when it discovered the alleged kickback scheme.

To learn more about the charges:
- read this Miami Herald piece

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