Durable Medical Equipment

In Texas, a durable medical equipment (DME) company owner was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $265,000 in restitution for health care fraud. The woman allowed a DME company owner, whose provider number was revoked, to use her provider number to bill Medicare for power wheelchairs that were either not provided or not medically necessary. The two split the Medicare proceeds.

In Illinois, a man was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for violating the anti-kickback statute. As a sales manager for a large medical equipment distributor, the man provided enteral pumps at no charge in order to induce the purchase of related enteral products and advised nursing homes on how to submit charges to Medicare for the enteral pumps.

Prescription Drug Fraud

In Massachusetts, a former pharmacist for a hospital was sentenced to 42 months in prison and ordered to pay $507,000 in restitution for charges related to diverting pharmaceuticals to a New Jersey pharmacist. As a buyer for the hospital, the pharmacist ordered and authorized the hospital to pay for prescription drugs and other pharmaceuticals, which he diverted on numerous occasions.

Child Support Enforcement

In North Carolina, a man was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment, 1 year supervised release and ordered to pay $77,000 in restitution for failure to pay child support. The man, who resides in Oklahoma, failed to pay any support for his daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy.