The Justice Department has charged 11 individuals in connection with telehealth fraud schemes that resulted in more than $2 billion in false claims.
The fraud schemes, which occurred in two different states with multiple different individuals, included:
- One in the Southern District of Florida in which the Justice Department alleged that the CEO, former CEO and vice president of business development at purported software companies generated and sold templates of clinicians' orders for orthotic braces and pain creams that were not medically necessary and not eligible for Medicare reimbursement. The scheme resulted in "the submission of $1.9 billion in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare," according to a June 28 press release from the Justice Department. The scam involved a telemarketing operation that targeted elderly and disabled people.
- The second case occurred in the Eastern District of Washington, where a licensed physician was accused of signing more than 2,800 fraudulent orders for orthotic braces. The physician signed the orders in less than 40 seconds and included orders for patients who had already undergone limb amputations, according to the Justice Department.
The crackdown is a part of the Justice Department's two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in 78 defendants being charged for participating in fraud schemes that totaled $2.5 billion in healthcare fraud.