Mr. Yielding was convicted in April 2009. According to the charges, Mr. Yielding and his now-deceased wife, Kelley Yielding, received commissions from the sales of Orthofix bone growth stimulators and Osteotech allograph bone to Baptist Health Medical Center – North Little Rock during the years 2003 and 2004. Those commissions, earned by Ms. Yielding through her company, Advanced Neurophysiology, which was a distributor for both companies, totaled in excess of $380,000. During this time period, Mr. Yielding was employed as a physician assistant for Richard Jordan, MD, a North Little Rock neurosurgeon, which enabled Mr. Yielding to dictate what products were ordered for use in surgeries performed by Dr. Jordan at Baptist NLR.
As part of the scheme, Mr. Yielding bribed Baptist NLR charge nurse Jordan Wall to order excessive amounts of the products for which Ms. Yielding would receive commissions, according to the release. When the nurse was terminated, Mr. Yielding created a fraudulent promissory note in an effort to disguise the bribes as a loan. Mr. Wall pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a federal agent and was sentenced to a term of probation and a fine, according to the release.
In imposing the sentence, the Court further considered the amount of monies paid by Baptist NLR for the products Mr. Wall ordered in exchange for the bribes as well as the loss to Baptist NLR’s insurer, Travelers Insurance, of $131,300 based on a claim it paid to Baptist NLR for fraud loss, according to the release. Finally, the Court held Mr. Yielding accountable for causing false claims to be filed with federal healthcare programs in an aggregate amount exceeding $740,000.
Mr. Yielding received sentence enhancements for both obstructing justice and for his aggravating role as a leader or organizer of the criminal activity. According to the release, Mr. Yielding’s obstruction of justice occurred in Dec. 2004 when he aided and abetted Mr. Wall in falsifying the promissory note.
As a part of Mr. Yielding’s sentence, he was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $944,995.84 to Baptist NLR, Travelers Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare for their respective losses, according to the release. He will begin his sentence on March 8.
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, Assistant United States Attorneys Laura Hoey and Karen Whatley represented the United States in this matter, with the assistance of legal intern, Josh Robles.
Read the DOJ’s release on Geffrey Alan Yielding (pdf).
