Detroit-Area Podiatrist Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud

A Detroit-area podiatrist pleaded guilty today to health care fraud for his participation in a $1 million scheme involving podiatry services that were never rendered.  

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios of the FBI’s Detroit Division and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office made the announcement.

Lawrence Young, D.P.M., 70, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Judith E. Levy of the Eastern District of Michigan.  Sentencing has been scheduled for May 22 before Judge Levy.  

As part of his guilty plea, Young admitted that from approximately January 2010 through April 2017, he engaged in a scheme to defraud the Medicare program by causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for the application of an “Unna Boot,” which is a type of medicated dressing typically applied after surgery to control swelling of the leg or foot.  Young admitted regularly submitting these claims for reimbursement even though he knew that his patients routinely received nothing more than a non-medicated dressing.  The scheme involved the submission of more $1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, he admitted. Read more »

Ontario man found guilty in scheme to supply U.S. with shoddy armoured vehicles for Iraq

An Ontario man who owned an armoured vehicle company in Virginia has been convicted for his role in a scheme to provide the U.S. with shoddy equipment for use in Iraq.

William Whyte, 72, of King City, Ont., was the owner and CEO of Armet Armored Vehicles of Danville, Va., and was accused of being involved in a scheme where his firm knowingly provided inadequately armoured vehicles for use by dignitaries and others in Iraq.

He was found guilty on Oct. 9 in a U.S. federal court of three counts of major fraud against the United States, three counts of wire fraud and three counts of false claims. Read more »

Feds Push To Expand FCA Billing Suit Against Fresenius

Prosecutors on Wednesday asked a federal judge to side with a magistrate judge and let them add more claims to a whistleblower’s allegation that Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc. violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for unnecessary hepatitis B tests.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil argued that, contrary to the dialysis company’s arguments, the “whole point” of the government’s ability to intervene in a lawsuit brought on its behalf is to take it over entirely, including the ability to amend and add to a complaint.

U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. took no immediate action on the future of the intervenor complaint that prosecutors filed seven months ago to take up and add to the 2009 complaint from former area manager at Fresenius, Christopher Drennen. U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein recommended in October that he back the government. Read more »

11th Circ. Won’t Revive $320M Fla. Hospice FCA Case

The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday shot down a Florida social worker’s bid to revive her False Claims Act accusations against a nonprofit hospice provider, ruling a lower court was right to dismiss the $320 million whistleblower suit because her claims lacked specific details about the alleged fraud.

Nancy Chase, a licensed social worker who worked for LifePath Hospice Inc. for 20 years, had accused the company, its parent organization Chapters Health System Inc. and other Chapters subsidiaries, Chapters Health Inc. and Good Shepherd Hospice Inc., of providing hospice care to ineligible patients so they could submit millions of dollars worth of false claims.

U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. tossed her allegations with prejudice in September 2016 and said her fourth amended complaint was not specific enough despite all her previous amendments, concluding further changes would be futile.

The Eleventh Circuit panel upheld Judge Moody’s reasoning on Wednesday, finding that Chase accused Chapters of falsifying documents and records to conceal its deceptive practices but failed to identify individual documents that were doctored or specific patients that were unnecessarily given hospice status. Read more »