Several North Texas companies have been indicted in a massive multi-state medicare scam that involved more than $1.2 billion in alleged fraudulent telemedicine, cardiovascular and cancer genetic testing, and durable medical equipment (DME) schemes.
Out of the 36 people indicted, seven men and women from Allen, McKinney, Corinth, Lewisville and Dallas are now facing conspiracy charges. Federal prosecutors call it a massive kickback scheme aimed at scamming Medicare and Medicaid.
The way it worked was an old-school method of referring patients for testing that was not needed and often not done. The indictment says the hospitals involved in the scheme were in Rockdale and Stamford Texas and a lab was in Massachusetts.
Doctors made the referrals, the hospitals and lab billed medicare, marketers took money and tried to disguise it as investment returns. The more patients that were referred, the more money they swiped. It was all part of the kickback scheme.
“The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting people who abuse our health care system and exploit telemedicine technologies in fraud and bribery schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This enforcement action demonstrates that the department will do everything in its power to protect the health care systems our communities rely on from people looking to defraud them for their own personal gain.”
Any patients who believe that they have been contacted as part of a fraudulent telemedicine, clinical laboratory, or DME scheme should call to report this conduct to HHS-OIG at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.
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