anti-fraud

NEWARK, New Jersey—A Florida man was charged in an indictment unsealed today for his role in durable medical equipment (DME) kickback scheme that caused $97 million in losses to Medicare, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.

BOSTON—The owner of Expansion Media (Expansion) and Hybrid Management Group (Hybrid) has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty in connection with a $110 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), including orthotics such as back and knee braces. 

NEW YORK—According to the Department of Justice, Lincare, a durable medical equipment (DME) company, admitted that it received reimbursements for claims that did not comply with billing rules and guidance and continued to seek payments in instances when it was aware patients were not using the respiratory equipment.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida—Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrest of Alan Swiss on charges of health care fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.

WASHINGTON—A man was sentenced today to nine years in prison for orchestrating a nearly $2.8 million health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy and engaging in money laundering, aggravated identity theft and witness tampering.

LOS ANGELES—A South Bay woman has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for billing Medicare more than $24 million by submitting fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME)—mostly power wheelchairs (PWC)—and PWC repairs, many of which were never performed, the Justice Department announced.

ATLANTA—Brett Weiner and Valerie Desalvo have pled guilty to federal conspiracy charges for their role in buying and selling fake doctors’ orders used to obtain over $1.5 million in fraudulent payments from Medicare.

TRENTON, New Jersey– A Florida man admitted his role in a durable medical equipment (DME) kickback scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Patrick Fitchner, 51, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Aug. 22 before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

RALEIGH, North Carolina—United States Attorney Michael Easley announced that Joint Active Systems, Inc. (JAS), a manufacturer of range-of-motion devices located in Effingham, Illinois, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle civil claims under the federal and North Carolina False Claims Acts concerning allegations that JAS caused submission of false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program for certain durable medical equipment (DME).

LANDSDOWNE, Pennsylvania—Affectionate Home Health Care Services LLC, a homecare agency providing non-medical care in the home, will pay more than $2.3 million in back wages under a consent judgment, the U.S. Department of Labor reports. 

A federal investigation found that the company willfully shortchanged nearly 400 employees on overtime, the department said in a news release. 

MIAMI—A federal jury has convicted two Florida doctors for their roles in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting over $31 million in claims for expensive durable medical equipment (DME) that Medicare beneficiaries did not need and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. 

NEW YORK—A man has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a Medicare durable medical equipment (DME) fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Matthew Taylor Witkowski is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, 2023 and could serve up to 10 years. 

RALEIGH, North Carolina—The CEO of two North Carolina durable medical equipment (DME) companies has been sentenced to 80 months in prison for health care fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

WASHINGTON (December 16, 2022)—A New York woman has been arrested for allegedly offering and paying illegal health care kickbacks and money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports. 

WASHINGTON (December 13, 2022)—The federal system meant to stop health care business owners and executives from repeatedly bilking government health programs fails to do so, a Kaiser Health News (KHN) investigation has found.

That means people are once again tapping into Medicaid, Medicare, and other taxpayer-funded federal health programs after being legally banned because of fraudulent or illegal behavior.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (June 3, 2022)--A Georgia woman was arrested on June 1 in Hampton, Georgia, on criminal charges related to an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare by prescribing medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), which was then billed to Medicare.