Doctor Sentenced for $40M DME Fraud

NASHVILLE—Dr. John R. Manning, 64, of Ashland City, Tennessee, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for his participation in a health care fraud conspiracy, announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee

Manning, a licensed medical doctor, was indicted in July 2022, with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and eight counts of health care fraud. In August 2023, Manning pled guilty to the conspiracy count. As part of his guilty plea, Manning admitted to allegations in the indictment, including that he worked for multiple “telemedicine” companies and signed doctor orders or prescriptions for durable medical equipment (DME), topical creams and cancer genetic tests (CGx) based on only a brief conversation with a patient, or often no conversation at all. Manning signed those orders and prescriptions in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes.

From approximately June 2016 through April 2019, Manning signed orders and prescriptions that caused the submission of at least $41,083,490.62 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid over $19 million of those claims. Manning accepted the payment of kickbacks in connection with these orders and prescriptions totaling over $812,000.

“This doctor ignored his oath to help people and bilked the taxpayers out of almost $20 million,” said McGuire, “now he faces accountability for his actions and the taxpayers get some justice for being taken advantage of.”

As part of the sentence, Manning was ordered to pay $19,780,565.44 in restitution to the Medicare program. Manning was also ordered to pay criminal forfeiture in the form of a money judgment totaling $812,303.41.