Texas Doctor Gets 3 Years in Prison for Medical Billing Fraud

A South Texas physician who pleaded guilty in a $1.4 million health care billing scam has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi on Friday sentenced 48-year-old Dr. Roque Joel Ramirez of Robstown. Ramirez in February pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

He owned Health Resolutions Inc. in Corpus Christi. The office has since closed.

Investigators say Ramirez submitted nearly 5,000 false claims from 2008 to 2011 and billed for services that added up to him working more than 24 hours per day. Investigators also say Ramirez submitted claims for patients who had died but the paperwork indicated he continued treating them.

Ramirez was sentenced to 37 months in prison, fined $10,000 and ordered to repay more than $370,000.