The government places a high priority on preventing the loss of Medicare health care dollars, particularly in the area of durable medical equipment (DME) where services and supplies offered are vulnerable to fraud. An article published by the Daily Breeze tells about a registered nurse and former owner of a medical supply company who managed to bilk more than $8.3 million through his business.
The story states that for more than six-and-a-half years, the former owner of the DME supply company paid cash kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals. He also paid kickbacks to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions for medically unnecessary services and supplies, such as power wheelchairs. (Unfortunately, the love of cold, hard cash can persuade physicians even though they know that the fraudulent prescriptions are a no-no.)
The man used the bogus prescriptions to submit $8.3 million in claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment that was not medically necessary. (Medicare paid nearly $4.3 million for the fake claims.)
Court reports state that the 42-year-old man was convicted by jury for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of health care fraud and one count of money laundering. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay back more than $4.3 million in restitution, jointly and severally with a co-defendant.
Congratulations to the Medicare Fraud Strike Force once again. The organization, which was set up by the government to increase the accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers, has clearly indicated that stopping fraud is a high priority.
The post High Priority appeared first on Fraud of the Day.