A new Medicare crime strike force is wasting no time going after physicians and health care executives involved in alleged fraud.
Investigations by the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) led to 32 doctors and executives being indicted for allegedly filing $16 million in fraudulent Medicare claims, officials announced July 29.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says:
Charges were unsealed today against 32 individuals who are accused of various Medicare fraud offenses, including conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program, and criminal false claims. The Strike Force operations in Houston have identified the primary fraud schemes as those related to false billing for "arthritis kits," power wheelchairs and enteral feeding supplies.
According to the indictments, the defendants charged today participated in schemes to submit claims to Medicare for products that were in fact medically unnecessary and oftentimes, never provided. In some cases, indictments allege that beneficiaries were deceased at the time they allegedly received the items. Collectively, the physicians, company owners and executives charged in the indictments are accused of conspiring to submit more than $16 million in false claims to the Medicare program.