Practitioners

In South Carolina, a licensed physical therapist was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution for health care fraud. The therapist billed Medicare and a private insurer for three to five hours of therapy when only a one-hour treatment was rendered.

Kickbacks

In Florida, a durable medical equipment (DME) company owner was sentenced to 5 months in prison, 5 months home detention and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine for conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute. Investigation revealed that the DME company owner received kickbacks from the owner of a pharmacy in return for referring patients in need of aerosol medications.

Employee Misconduct

In Maryland, a former NIH purchasing agent was ordered to pay $2,400 in restitution for theft of government property. The woman, who pled guilty, used her government-issued credit card to secure rental cars for her own personal use.