Medicare Fraud Strike Force Operations Lead to Charges Against 32 Doctors and Health Care
Raymond
For Immediate Release
July 29, 2009 United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Texas
Contact: (713) 567-9000
Medicare Fraud Strike Force Operations Lead to Charges Against 32
Doctors and Health Care Executives for More than $16 Million in
Alleged False Billing in Houston
Early Morning Takedown Leads to Arrests in Houston, New York, Boston
and Louisiana
WASHINGTON—Thirty-two people have been indicted for schemes to submit
more than $16 million in false Medicare claims in the continuing
operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Houston, Deputy
Attorney General David W. Ogden and Deputy Secretary Bill Corr of the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today. The
Strike Force in Houston is the fourth phase of a targeted criminal,
civil, and administrative effort against individuals and health care
companies that fraudulently bill the Medicare program.
While the indictments were returned by a grand jury in Houston,
individuals were arrested today in Houston, New York, Boston and
Louisiana. In addition, Strike Force agents executed 12 search
warrants at health care businesses and homes across the Houston area.
The joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a multi-agency team
of federal, state, and local investigators designed to combat Medicare
fraud through the use of Medicare data analysis techniques and an
increased focus on community policing. The fourth phase was announced
in May 2009, with agents from FBI, HHS Office of the Inspector General
(HHS-OIG), the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
(MFCU), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Office of Personnel
Management, Office of the Inspector General (OPM-OIG), and the Office
of the Inspector General at the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB-OIG).
“Our Medicare Strike Force is striking back against health care fraud
in all its forms and wherever it occurs. We will stop fraud as its
happening, using real-time data analysis of Medicare billing records,”
said Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden. “Those who commit health
care fraud will not be allowed to steal money from American taxpayers.
Anyone operating or considering operating a health care fraud scheme
around the country should take notice that they will be held
accountable.”
“When criminals rip off Medicare beneficiaries, we all pay the price.
These false Medicare schemes and scams are costing the taxpayers
millions of dollars, harming Medicare beneficiaries and driving up the
cost of health care, but thanks to this new innovative partnership and
the hard work of our staff on the ground, we are starting to fight
back against fraud in a big way. The Administration’s HEAT initiative
and our Strike Forces are making a big difference in a very short
amount of time, returning millions back to the Medicare Trust in just
a few months,” said Bill Corr, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human
Services and the top HHS official on the HEAT Team. “We are also
working together across the federal government on important new
innovations in the way we do business on the front end, to try and
prevent crime like this from happening in the first place.”
The Strike Force operations in Houston are another important step of
the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a
joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of
Justice and HHS to focus their joint efforts to reduce and prevent
Medicare and Medicaid fraud through enhanced cooperation. The HEAT
taskforce, co-chaired by Deputy Attorney Ogden and Deputy Secretary
Corr, is made up of top-level law enforcement agents, prosecutors and
staff from both Departments and their operating divisions. In the May
2009 announcement, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius announced the expansion of the Strike Force into Detroit and
Houston to build upon existing partnerships between the agencies in a
heightened effort to reduce fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.
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.
“Americans deserve quality healthcare and have the right to expect
that money expended on Medicare is not wasted,” said U.S. Attorney Tim
Johnson. “We will prosecute anyone who fraudulently obtains Medicare
benefits at the expense of the truly needy.”
“We will protect the Medicare program and its beneficiaries by
stopping those who falsely bill for power wheelchairs, orthotic
devices and other supplies that are not needed,” said Daniel R.
Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human
Services. “Today’s arrests demonstrate the significant impact of the
new HEAT strike force on combating fraud and abuse in the Houston
area.”
“We will continue to work together to combat those who corrupt the
system and wish to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars,” said
Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers, FBI Houston Field Office.
“Healthcare fraud strikes at the heart of our health care system and
our economy.”
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott added: “Today’s arrests reflect a
concerted effort to crack down on those who defraud Texas taxpayers.
We will continue working with our federal partners to uncover waste,
fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid systems.”
Since the inception of Strike Force operations in March 2007 with
phase one in South Florida, phase two in Los Angeles in May 2008, and
phase three in Detroit in March 2009, the Strike Force has obtained
indictments of more than 293 individuals and organizations that
collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $674
million. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, is taking steps to
increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent
providers.
Each of the three Houston Strike Force teams is led by a federal
prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston or the Criminal
Division’s Fraud Section. Each team has an agent from the FBI, HHS-OIG
and the Texas Attorney General’s MFCU. DEA, OPM-OIG and RRB-OIG also
have agents on the teams.
The cases are being prosecuted by attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery and Special
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Blan, on detail from HHS-OIG, as well
as from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, including Assistant
Chief John S. (Jay) Darden and Trial Attorneys Charles Reed, Katherine
Houston, Anthony Burba and John Cunningham.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and defendants are presumed
innocent until and unless proven guilty.
To learn more about the HEAT team, go to: www.hhs.gov/stopmedicarefraud.
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