Healthcare Software Owner Sentenced for $1B Medicare DME Fraud

WASHINGTON—A Kansas CEO and owner of an internet platform was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his role in operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders and prescriptions to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs out of more than $1 billion.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, and his co-conspirators aggressively targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries across the United States to get them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other items. They then arranged for purported telemedicine doctors to sign false prescription orders for these items so that their co-conspirators could bill Medicare for them. All told, Blackman and his co-conspirators billed Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs over $1 billion for this unnecessary equipment.

“The Department of Justice and our agency partners dismantled one of the largest telemedicine fraud schemes ever, and yesterday’s lengthy prison sentence holds the orchestrator of that scheme accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “The defendant’s fraud scheme lured hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled Americans into a sophisticated international telemarketing system with one goal: stealing as much as possible from the Medicare trust fund. The Fraud Division will continue to leverage its resources to take down complex fraud operations like Blackman’s DMERx.”

Blackman owned, controlled, and was the CEO of HealthSplash, which acquired Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) in September 2017. DMERx was an internet-based platform that generated false and fraudulent doctors’ orders for durable medical equipment (DME) and prescriptions for other items. As part of the scheme, Blackman and his co-conspirators connected pharmacies, DME suppliers and marketers with telemedicine companies that would accept illegal kickbacks and bribes in exchange for signed doctors’ orders created using the DMERx platform. Blackman and his co-conspirators took a cut for themselves in exchange for the referrals.

The fraudulent doctors’ orders and prescriptions generated by DMERx falsely represented that a doctor had actually examined and treated the Medicare beneficiaries when, in fact, the doctors were simply paid to sign orders and prescriptions without any meaningful interaction with the beneficiary, and in some cases, no interaction at all. Testimony and evidence presented at trial from an undercover agent who posed as a Medicare beneficiary showed the scheme in action—starting with a foreign call center that pushed the undercover agent to agree to multiple braces, to a doctor signing false orders for the braces using Blackman’s DMERx platform. The doctor’s order for one of these undercover agent beneficiaries claimed that the doctor conducted various tests that can only be performed in person, even though the doctor never even spoke with the undercover agent “patient.”

The DME suppliers and pharmacies that were paying illegal kickbacks for these orders billed Medicare and other insurers more than $1 billion. Medicare and the other insurers paid more than $450 million based on these claims. According to evidence presented at trial, Blackman and his co-conspirators concealed the scheme through sham contracts and by manipulating the doctors’ orders to avoid Medicare audits, including by removing references to telemedicine in the doctors’ orders.

As a result of Blackman’s scheme, Medicare was fraudulently billed for orthotic braces for more than 346,000 Medicare beneficiaries. On average, Medicare was billed for four braces per beneficiary, with Medicare being billed for at least 21 orthotics prescribed through Blackman’s DMERx platform to more than 1,200 beneficiaries.

After a 23-day jury trial ending in April 2026, Blackman was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements in connection with healthcare matters. Blackman’s restitution and forfeiture obligations will be determined by the court at a later date.

In December 2025, Blackman’s co-defendant, Gary Cox, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

“This sentence delivers a decisive warning: anyone who exploits VA programs and services for personal profit will be found and held fully accountable,” said Inspector General Cheryl L. Mason of the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The VA OIG remains committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to uncover complex fraud schemes and protect our nation’s veterans.”