DME Conviction, Settlement Announced

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Here are two separate cases involving durable medical equipment (DME): In the first, a federal jury found the owner of a medical equipment company guilty of multiple counts of Medicare fraud and identity theft. The scheme involved items that were never provided to patients and never ordered by a physician. She submitted thousands of false claims, fabricated patient files, and falsified prescriptions from doctors for items such as heavy-duty wheelchairs while providing much cheaper standard wheelchairs to patients. Read a Department of Justice press release.  

In another case, a company agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle False Claims Act allegations. Complaints were based primarily on allegations surrounding the company’s use of a telemarketing scheme to sell knee and back braces to Medicare beneficiaries. The United States alleged that the company violated Medicare’s prohibition against telephone solicitation of covered products to beneficiaries. Read a Department of Justice press release.

 

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