FBI Conducts Investigation Of The Scooter Store

New Braunfels, Texas

The FBI interviewed about two dozen Scooter Store employees in late October, company and bureau officials confirm, raising additional concern in an HME sector already under heavy scrutiny from federal authorities.

“We’re the nation’s leading provider [of powered mobility products]; we’re in an industry under scrutiny,” said Margaret McGuckin, executive vice president, marketing, for The Scooter Store. “It’s not surprising that they would want to talk to us. We’re responding fully to requests for information, and we are providing information as fully as possible.”

Special Agent Rene Salinas of the FBI San Antonio Field Office told HomeCare the office was continuing a two-year-old company investigation, but he did not disclose the reason for the federal probe.

In early September, a Houston-centered power-wheelchair scheme sparked a massive fraud crackdown by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That scheme involved several wheelchair providers who allegedly billed Medicare and Medicaid a total of $32 million and received $16 million for fraudulent claims, according to the 101-count indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

The Scooter Store has said it acted as an important source of information about the Houston scheme.

For breaking news, go to www.homecaremonday.com, the electronic news service of the home medical equipment industry.