Prosecuting Medicare Fraud: Orthotics Involved in the Largest Fraud Case Ever
We’re confident that no reader of CORRelations would commit fraud, but a number of muscular anti-fraud efforts by the feds deserve our attention — be careful who you buy from!
What
Health care fraud is not new, but recent brazen activity by bad actors is causing the DOJ, FBI, and HHS Office of Inspector General to intensify their efforts to reclaim Medicare payments made on false claims. In late June, one of the largest health care fraud investigations ever announced involved charges against 78 people for defrauding older patients and those with disabilities. This one involved $2.5 billion in fraudulent claims. There were multiple cases involving multiple schemes, but the biggest case of the announcement involved 11 defendants who submitted over $2 billion in alleged fraudulent claims for orthotic braces.
When
Information about the scam surfaced in the summer of 2018 when beneficiaries started calling the Medicare fraud hotline to complain about their experiences. The U.S. Department of Justice announced this latest indictment on June 28, 2023, but indictments for very similar fraud cases occurred in April 2019.
