Imprisoned doc pleads guilty to health care fraud

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A western Pennsylvania doctor serving more than 11 years in federal prison for writing phony painkiller prescriptions has pleaded guilty to unrelated health care fraud charges.

Forty-three-year-old Oliver Herndon faces 30 to 37 months in prison when he returns for sentencing July 14 before a federal judge in Pittsburgh.

Herndon pleaded guilty to submitting hospice care claims for patients who weren’t terminally ill or medical claims for other services not provided while he was medical director of a Horizons Hospice location in Monroeville.

Herndon, of McMurray, was sentenced two years ago after he was convicted of supplying patients with so many illegal painkillers that his arrest in 2011 caused the street price of the pills to double.

Herndon’s attorney had previously said he believes Herndon will be able to serve his new sentence concurrently.