CUSHING, Oklahoma—A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted Mark Loftis, 39, an Oklahoma business owner and chiropractor for his role in a years-long scheme that attempted to bilk Medicare, TRICARE and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) out of more than $30 million. The alleged fraud involved purchasing patient information, medical practitioners’ signatures and doctors’ orders for orthotic braces and glucose monitors that patients did not want or need.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Loftis, of Cushing, Oklahoma, paid over a million dollars to marketers who worked with call centers to persuade elderly and disabled Americans to provide their personal information, including their health insurance information. Loftis and his co-conspirators then used that information to obtain signed orders for orthotic braces and continuous glucose monitors that were generated by telemedicine doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined, and often never spoke to the patients. Loftis and his co-conspirators used these doctors’ orders to bill federal healthcare programs.
Loftis also concealed a conspirator’s management role in his company and his billing of claims generated by other unenrolled medical suppliers. In total, Loftis obtained over $8 million from the false and fraudulent claims. Loftis continued the scheme for three years despite receiving a steady stream of complaints from beneficiaries and family members of beneficiaries who reported that their elderly parents suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, making them especially vulnerable to the sales tactics of Loftis’s conspirators.
The jury convicted Loftis of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“The defendant bought patient data and used it to generate sham medical orders, targeting seniors and people with disabilities for exploitation. This scheme sought to drain millions from federal health care programs meant to support Americans in need,” said Miranda L. Bennett, acting deputy inspector general for investigations at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “This verdict makes clear that HHS OIG and our law enforcement partners will hold accountable anyone who tries to defraud these programs or prey on the people they serve.”