Ohio Doctor Ordered to Pay Nearly $1M for Facilitating Medicare Fraud

CLEVELAND—An Ohio physician has been sentenced for her alleged role in a healthcare fraud conspiracy that fraudulently billed Medicare for more than $1,842,524 in unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME) orders.

Muna Orra, 42, of Westlake, Ohio, was sentenced to five years of probation after she pleaded guilty in January to making false statements related to healthcare matters. She was also ordered to pay $997,641 in restitution to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

According to court documents, Orra used her position as a licensed medical doctor in the state of Ohio to issue doctor’s orders for DME, primarily braces and genetic testing for patients who did not need the equipment and tests she authorized.

From about February 2018 to September 2021, Orra was employed by a telemedicine company based in the state of Georgia as an independent contractor physician. The telemedicine company provided her with documents containing patients’ details such as medical exam notes and recommended treatment plans, along with a detailed written order for the DME or genetic tests. Orra would review the patient files and electronically approve the orders, which she submitted to the telemedicine company to use for billing. The telemedicine company then submitted bills for the equipment and tests, with Orra’s orders as purported proof those items were medically necessary.

However, the investigation found that Orra did not meaningfully review the patient records to determine if the prepared orders were medically reasonable and necessary, nor did she conduct required assessments that could only be performed in person despite signing orders indicating that she did. The investigation also revealed that when Orra opened the electronic patient files, she frequently executed her electronic signature on the relevant order within just seconds of accessing the patient file.

In total, Orra caused Medicare to be billed approximately $93,473 for medically unnecessary genetic testing orders and $1,749,051 for medically unnecessary braces for patients. Medicare paid approximately $64,189 on those bills for genetic testing and $933,452 on the bills for braces.