Licensed Practical Nurse Found Guilty in Health Care Kickback Scheme

LITTLE ROCK—Jane W. Duke, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas; Mike Fields, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Regional Office for Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; and Thomas J. Browne, Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced Geffrey Alan Yielding was found guilty yesterday evening of two counts stemming from a health care kickback scheme. Yielding, age 43, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, was convicted of aiding and abetting the payment of kickbacks to a former employee of Baptist Hospital Medical Center in North Little Rock (Baptist NLR) during the years 2003 and 2004. In addition, the jury convicted Yielding of aiding and abetting the falsification of a promissory note in December 2004 in an effort to disguise the payments.

During the time period in which the kickbacks were paid, Yielding was employed as a physician’s assistant for Dr. Richard Jordan, a North Little Rock neurosurgeon. Yielding’s wife, Kelley Yielding, was a distributor for several medical device companies. These companies included Osteotech, a supplier of “allograft bone,” and Orthofix, a manufacturer of external bone growth stimulators. According to the proof presented at trial, the Yieldings, through a company called Advanced Neurophysiology, Inc. (“ANI”) paid Jody Wall, a charge nurse at Baptist NLR, approximately $54,000 during the two years in which this scheme was in existence. For surgeries performed by Dr. Jordan at Baptist NLR, Yielding would instruct Wall to purchase bone and bone growth stimulators from the companies for which Yielding’s wife served as a distributor. Wall would then violate Baptist NLR purchasing policies and would order more products than were necessary for the surgeries. In exchange for Wall ordering the Osteotech and Orthofix products, Yielding would pay approximately $2,500 per month to Wall. Both the allograft bone and the bone growth stimulators were products reimbursable under Medicare. Yielding's wife, who is now deceased, earned sizeable commissions on the sales facilitated by Wall during the period of the kickback scheme.

In late 2004, Baptist NLR management discovered the purchasing irregularities committed by Wall and terminated his employment. When the Yieldings became aware of Wall’s termination and the continuation of Baptist NLR’s internal investigation, they created a fraudulent promissory note. This note falsely reflected that the bribes paid by the Yieldings to Wall during 2004 had been a loan.

“Our office is committed to the relentless pursuit of those whose sole interest in health care is to raid the Medicare Trust Fund to satisfy their own greed,” stated Fields. Browne agreed, noting, “Health care fraud is one of the FBI's highest investigative priorities. Our field office in Little Rock has demonstrated its commitment to this crime problem by devoting the resources necessary to uncover it and prosecute those individuals who steal from a federal program that is designed to take care of the medical needs of millions of Americans. This office will continue to aggressively investigate these matters and we encourage the public to report any information they may have regarding health care fraud to the FBI or the Office of Health and Human Services.”

Yielding remains free on bond pending sentencing. As a condition of bond, however, presiding United States District Judge Brian Miller required Yielding to surrender his passport. Yielding’s sentencing, which will also be handled by Judge Miller, will be scheduled after preparation of the customary presentence investigation report. Yielding faces up to five years' imprisonment on Count 1 and up to 20 years' imprisonment on Count 2. Count 1 carries a potential fine of $25,000, while Count 2 carries a potential fine of $250,000. In addition, Yielding will be required to make mandatory restitution to any victims of the offense, which could include Baptist NLR and the Medicare Trust Fund.

This investigation was conducted by the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. United States Attorney Jane Duke and Assistant United States Attorney Laura Hoey tried the case on behalf of the United States.