A New Hope man has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for his role in a multi-million dollar insurance scam.

Chief United States District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler on Friday sentenced John Hornbuckle, 53, after he pleaded guilty in November to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to receive kickbacks.

According to his plea deal, Hornbuckle, the former owner of QBR, which did business in Huntsville under the name Diagnostic Referral Community, billed insurers for testing that its technicians performed, regardless of whether there was a medical need. QBR paid medical providers a per-patient fee for the tests they ordered from QBR, which were reimbursed by insurers, including Medicare.

The payments were disguised as hourly payments, but the provider was actually paid a fee for each patient who received a test. The scam added up for more than $9 million.

Hornbuckle was also ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution, a fine of $250,000, and forfeiture of more than $176,000.

Hornbuckle’s case is related to several others currently awaiting sentencing.

Brian Bowman, 41, of Gadsden, has pleaded guilty to charges related to receiving almost $1 million for marketing QBR’s electro-diagnostic testing to medical providers. James Ewing Ray, 52, of Gadsden, has pleaded guilty to health care fraud and kickback conspiracy for his role as a sales rep who marketed QBR’s services. Both are awaiting sentencing.

Last week, a Tennessee doctor and his wife were sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for illegally distributing opioids and defrauding insurers of tens of millions of dollars out of their now-shuttered Alabama clinics.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J.B. Ward and Don Long prosecuted the cases.