We all complain about the exorbitant ransom demands ransomware teams make on medical practices and hospitals. But they are not the only criminals costing entities — and society — money. Every day, insiders are stealing money — from the government and from all of us.
Here’s just a few recent headlines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General:
The former president and chief executive officer of a Long Beach substance abuse treatment provider was sentenced today to 84 months in federal prison for participating in a scheme in which more than $18.5 million in fraudulent claims were submitted to California’s Drug Medi-Cal program for alcohol and drug treatment services for high school and middle school students.
Acting United States Attorney M. Rhett DeHart announced today that Joseph Benjamin Barton, 47, of Mount Pleasant, the owner and operator of Midlands Physical Medicine LLC in Richland County, has pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud for billing Medicare for $194,000 that was not due.
A federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment today against optometrist Carole Sachs, O.D., 76, of Delhi, charging her with health care fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
The United States has filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), University of Pittsburgh Physicians, and James Luketich, M.D., in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today. The United States’ complaint – which was based on a two-year investigation into allegations originally brought by a former UPMC physician under the False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions – alleges that the defendants knowingly submitted hundreds of materially false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health benefit programs over the past six years.