Former hospital CEO pleads guilty to healthcare fraud

Paul D. Cardwell, former chief executive of Powell (Wyo.) Valley Healthcare and White County Memorial Hospital in Monticello, Ind., pled guilty in federal court Wednesday for defrauding the hospitals out of more than $1.5 million, theINDYchannel.com reported via the Associated Press. Cardwell was charged with embezzling nearly $850,000 from Powell Valley in 2011 and the same amount from White County Memorial between 2003 and 2009. Cardwell authorized spending of the money to recruit physicians to the hospitals but the money actually was sent to a "straw account" set up by Cardwell's friend and kicked back to Cardwell. Article