Durable Medical Equipment

In Texas, a physician was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay almost $13 million in restitution for her involvement in a motorized wheelchair scheme. The physician and her office manager sold fraudulent certificates of medical necessity and prescriptions for motorized wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment (DME). In addition, the physician and her staff were involved with drug dealers in providing fictitious prescriptions for controlled substances that were filled at area pharmacies. For her involvement, the office manager received a 7-year prison sentence.

Also in Texas, pursuant to her guilty plea, a woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $253,000 in restitution for health care fraud. The woman and her husband, who owned and operated a DME company, fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for power wheelchairs and other equipment that was either not provided or prescribed by a doctor. The husband was previously found guilty for his involvement in the scheme and was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $286,000 in joint and several restitution.

Employee Misconduct

In South Dakota, a former Indian Health Service employee was ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution for larceny. The woman allegedly caused the destruction of Government records to conceal payments made to contractors in violation of Federal law. During this investigation, it was revealed that in her capacity of treasurer, she stole funds from the Rosebud Public Health Service Employee Association.

Child Support Enforcement

In Montana, a man was sentenced to 250 hours of community service and 1 year probation for failure to pay child support. He was also ordered to pay $348,000 in restitution, representing his past due arrearage as well as future amounts owed.