MCALLEN - An update to a CHANNEL 5 NEWS investigation. Last year we told you about allegations of Medicare fraud concerning power chairs ordered for elderly people who didn't need them. Our investigation highlighted a Valley company. That company's CEO is answering questions he wouldn't answer back then.
He's the CEO of RGV-DME and he's explaining why he didn't go on camera then, and responding to accusations of cheating medicare. Marcelo Herrera invited us in to his offices. He says, "I figured I have nothing to hide. I've been here in business for five years and I plan on being here a whole lot more."
That wasn't the case last year when CHANNEL 5's Eddie Flores approached Herrera about allegations of medicare fraud. He refused to go on camera, referred us to his attorney. A whistle-blower who was a former employee and others made the accusations.
The former employee told CHANNEL 5, "When I first got there, there was a generated report floating around and the report says they had generated about 1.8 million dollars in just the power chairs and fraudulent billing, before and while I was there."
The claim was RGV-DME was providing power chairs for patients who didn't need them, without a doctor's signature, billing medicare and making a lot of money.
Herrera says, "That was never happening in my business, and if I were to get information and find out somebody one of my employees were going that they would be fired immediately, absolutely."
Herrera explains why he didn't just say that back then. He says, "For the most part it was the attorneys advising me not to."
Herrera says since the investigation aired, he's gone through records, looking for inconsistencies. He says out of hundreds of power chair orders, he found three with mistakes. RGV reimbursed the government for those three orders. He says the accusations surprised him.
Herrera says, "Obviously for somebody who is counting to be in business in the long run, that's not good business practice. I'm not gonna sacrifice my 4 or 5 licenses for a couple thousand dollars."
We can tell you the Texas Attorney General's Office has recently started an investigation into the allegations against RGV DME, but so far no official charges have surfaced.
