Little Rock physician Robert Barrow was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for conspiring to commit health care fraud.
Barrow pleaded guilty in October, and charges that had originally been brought against his wife, Dr. Angela Barrow, were dropped.
His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, and U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes also ordered him to pay almost $735,000 in restitution.
“Those who defraud the healthcare industry do so at their peril,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer said in a press release announcing the sentence. “Dr. Robert Barrow deceived his patients and their insurers, and now he is going to federal prison. His sentence ought to serve as a warning to anyone tempted to cheat the system.”
“Rooting out those who do not heed this warning will continue to be a focus” of federal prosecutors, the FBI and the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Thyer said. All three agencies were involved in the investigation and prosecution of Barrow and co-defendant Billy Marc Young.
Barrow referred patients to Young, a massage therapist, and billed for his services under his own provider number, as if they were receiving physical therapy.
The Barrows’ clinic, Your Doctor’s Office, became a local insurer’s second-highest biller for physical therapy statewide, ahead of hospitals and dedicated rehab facilities.
When he pleaded guilty last fall, Barrow admitted he was “willfully blind” to his illegal billing practices, the release said.
The restitution award included a total of more than $32,000 to some 40 former patients who paid out-of-pocket expenses charged as physical therapy. The largest victim was Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield, which was awarded $680,000 but agreed to subordinate its claim until the patients are repaid.
Young also pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with health care and was sentenced in December to serve a year and a day in federal prison.
The case against Barrow and Young began with an anonymous tip to a fraud hotline. Thyer’s office encouraged patients to report suspicious activity to the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI; to the HHS Inspector General at (800) HHS-TIPS, or to one’s private insurance carrier.