Ed Henry pleads not guilty to medical kickback scheme

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Ed Henry

Hartselle-Republican, State Rep. William “Ed” Henry, 47, found himself indicted in May, arrested on charges stemming from his alleged role in a medical kickback scheme.

Henry pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Wednesday morning, maintaining the innocence he’s claimed since his indictment. “I’ve always been as open and transparent as possible,”  Henry posted on Facebook in June. “My goal was to help patients, and I did. Using a program established and promoted by Medicare, I helped chronically ill patients and saved the taxpayers’ money. For that, I have been charged with multiple Felonies.”

“The travesty in all of this is that a program that Medicare designed and implemented and has proven saves them money to care for the most chronically ill is going to be put in jeopardy by the actions of the government in this case,” Henry told the court during his arraignment AL.com reported.

From 2015 through 2017, Henry was an owner, and CEO of a health care company, MyPractice24, Inc. (MyPractice24). His company provided non-face-to-face chronic care management services to Medicare beneficiaries who had two or more chronic conditions. Using contracts with primary care physicians the doctors would pay Henry’s company to provide these chronic care management services to the doctors’ patients, the company would provide the services, the doctors would bill Medicare for the services, and then the doctors would pay Henry’s company a share of the reimbursements received from Medicare.

In 2016, Henry entered into an agreement with Dr. Gilberto Sanchez, a Montgomery physician who has subsequently pleaded guilty to drug distribution, health care fraud, and money laundering charges. Under that agreement, MyPractice24 would provide various kickbacks to Dr. Sanchez and his staff in return for the providers at Dr. Sanchez’s practice referring Medicare beneficiaries to MyPractice24 for chronic care management services.

The indictment charges Henry with one count of conspiring to pay kickbacks and to defraud the United States, one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud, five counts of health care fraud, and money laundering charges.

If convicted of the most serious offense, Henry faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, significant monetary penalties, asset forfeiture, and restitution.