Feds say $1.2B Medicare back brace scam busted
Posted Apr 9, 2019 10:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities say they’ve broken up a $1.2 billion Medicare scam that peddled unneeded orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors via foreign call centres.
The Justice Department announced charges Tuesday against 24 people in the U.S., including doctors accused of writing bogus prescriptions for unneeded back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces. Others charged include owners of telemedicine firms and medical equipment companies.
The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office says the fast-moving scam morphed into multiple related schemes. Officials say it’s one of the biggest frauds the office has investigated.
Charges were being brought against defendants in California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
The fraudulent call centres were based in the Philippines and throughout Latin America.
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press
