An owner of a now-defunct hospice that was based in the Shoals is headed to federal prison for more than two years.

During a hearing this morning in Birmingham, U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson sentenced Jackie Randolph Gist to 28 months in prison and ordered that he pay more than $3 million in restitution to the federal government for Medicare fraud.

Gist, 55, pleaded guilty in 2010 to engaging in a criminal conspiracy to defraud Medicare of almost $3.192 million between March 2006 and July 2009 when he operated Good Samaritan Hospice USA in Muscle Shoals.

Good Samaritan Hospice filed for bankruptcy in 2009, citing a debt of more than $5 million. In its bankruptcy court filings, the hospice contended the debt was the result of reimbursements that were approved by Medicare but exceeded the federal government’s $20,000 per patient cap.

Federal prosecutors contend Good Samaritan Hospice submitted claims to Medicare for amounts greater than the services that were provided to patients.