Medicare fraud

17 Stories

Prosecutors: Suspect Tried to Jet Ski Out of the Country

It didn't work out for Ernesto Cruz Graveran, now held in Florida

(Newser) - Stripped of his passport, a man tried to flee fraud charges in the US by riding a jet ski from Florida to Cuba, prosecutors say. Ernesto Cruz Graveran, 54, a Cuban national living in Florida and charged in a $4.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, is being held as a...

Feds Make Arrests in COVID Medicare Scams

Fraudsters exploited virus fears to bill tens of millions in bogus claims

(Newser) - The Justice Department announced charges Wednesday against more than a dozen people from Florida to California in a series of Medicare scams that exploited coronavirus fears to bill tens of millions of dollars in bogus claims. A common hook involved a pandemic variant of identity theft: Fraudsters allegedly offered COVID-19...

Feds: Couple Ran $45M Medicare Scam, Had an Indentured Servant

They had a fleet of luxury SUVs but paid their nanny $66 a day, threatened her

(Newser) - File under Appearances Can Be Deceiving: A Chicago-area couple whose 5,000-square-foot home came complete with a bevvy of luxury SUVs built their empire "on a lie," reports the Chicago Tribune . Richard and Maribel Tinimbang, 38 and 40, are being charged with various counts of conspiracy, paying kickbacks,...

How One Therapist Billed Medicare for $4M

Wael Bakry says he just has a successful practice

(Newser) - How can more than $4 million in Medicare money flow through a small doctor's office in Brooklyn? Seeking answers, the New York Times reports on the world of physical therapy—where demand is on the rise, treatments vary wildly by region, and authorities are cracking down on doctors who...

Growing Medicare Expense ... Eyelid Lifts?
 Growing Medicare 
 Expense ... Eyelid Lifts? 
in case you missed it
Jun 1, 2013 1:45 PM CDT

Growing Medicare Expense ... Eyelid Lifts?

Critics say doctors, patients gaming the system

(Newser) - Medicare is never, ever supposed to pay for cosmetic surgery, but the Miami Herald has dug up numbers on eyelid lifts that look mighty suspicious. Medicare will pay for the procedure—booming in popularity among aging Americans looking for less droopy eyes—but only if a doctor deems it medically...

Anti-Fraud Record: Per Dollar Spent, $8 Recovered

HSS boasts recovering $4.2B last year in health-care fraud effort

(Newser) - And the health-care fraud records just keep coming : The government last year recovered a record $4.2 billion that was stolen or illegally obtained from federal health-care programs, reports USA Today . That brings the since-2010 equation to this: $7.90 has been recouped via fines and legal judgments for each...

Menendez Waded Into Top Donor's Fraud Case

Senator's relationship with Salomon Melgen comes under scrutiny

(Newser) - Sen. Robert Menendez twice tried to intervene on behalf of pal and major campaign donor Dr. Salomon Melgen in the optometrist's ongoing battle with Medicare over alleged fraud, the Washington Post and New York Times report. Melgen is accused of overbilling Uncle Sam to the tune of $8.9...

Medicare Fraud Task Force Makes Biggest Bust Ever

107 charged in scheme, whose fake claims allegedly totaled $452M

(Newser) - The Justice Department's special Medicare fraud strike team made its biggest bust ever yesterday, charging 107 doctors, nurses, and other alleged fraudsters in a "nationwide takedown" affecting seven cities. All told, they're accused of bilking the government out of $452 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. Among...

Millions Siphoned From Medicaid by Fake Firms
Dummy Firms Squeeze Millions From Medicare
INVESTIGATION
Dec 22, 2011 4:42 AM CST

Dummy Firms Squeeze Millions From Medicare

Fraud-fighters finding it hard to stay ahead of shell companies

(Newser) - Fraudsters using complicated networks of ghost companies are sucking hundreds of millions of dollars out of Medicare every year and it's a bit like taking candy from a baby, a Reuters investigation finds. The probe—which officials say will likely lead to a criminal investigation of the firms involved—...

White House: We've Recovered $5.6B in Fraud

Cabinet secretaries to meet on wasteful spending

(Newser) - The Justice Department has managed to recover some $5.6 billion lost to fraud over the 2011 fiscal year, officials will announce today. Civil fraud accounted for some $3.4 billion, with the rest attributable to criminal fraud, insiders tell the Washington Post . Much of the money was recovered by...

Feds Nab 91 in $295M Medicare Fraud Sting

Accused 'treated' dead people, ran Florida housing scheme

(Newser) - The Obama administration notched yet another win for its Medicare fraud team yesterday, as the Justice Department announced the arrests of 91 fraudsters from across the country, accused of bilking Uncle Sam for a combined $295 million. “The defendants allegedly treated the Medicare program like a personal piggy bank,...

Feds Catching 85% More Health Care Fraudsters

This is shaping up to be a banner year

(Newser) - Health care fraud prosecutions have shot up this year, thanks to an Obama administration crackdown, according to new figures from a Syracuse University research team. Already the feds have prosecuted 903 people for fraud this year, which is 24% more than they nabbed in the entirety of 2010, and puts...

Almost 10% of Medicare Payments Improper

But it's hard to tell how much of that is fraud

(Newser) - The federal government lost around $48 billion to fraudulent and improper Medicare claims last year—which made up nearly 10% of all payments the program doled out, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. And even that figure might be on the low side, because it doesn’...

Feds Nail Biggest-Ever Medicare Scam

More than 100 arrested in fraud sting

(Newser) - Federal agents swooped on health care facilities in nine states yesterday, arresting doctors, nurses, therapists, and health care executives accused of carrying out the biggest Medicare fraud ever seen. More than 100 people were involved in the scam, which bilked taxpayers out of up to $200 million by billing for...

Small Pharmacy Makes Millions Fighting Fraud

Ven-A-Care exposes drug companies that overcharge Medicare

(Newser) - Ven-A-Care started out as a small pharmacy supplying intravenous drugs for AIDS and cancer patients, but these days it doesn’t make its money off drugs—at least, not the ones it sells. Instead, it’s pulled in $380 million since 2000 by acting as a professional whistleblower, suing drug...

Feds: Firm Used Dementia Patients in $200M Scam

Health center charged with Medicare fraud

(Newser) - Federal authorities charged the nation's largest community mental health center today, alleging the Miami-based company billed Medicare $200 million in a scam that preyed on patients with severe dementia and altered their clinical files so the company could charge for more services. Prosecutors alleged that American Therapeutic Corp. paid the...

Gangsters Busted in Biggest-Ever Medicare Fraud

Armenian gang used phony doctors, clinic to scam $163 million

(Newser) - Investigators say they have smashed an Armenian crime ring responsible for "the largest Medicare fraud scheme ever perpetrated by a single criminal enterprise." A multi-state probe dubbed "Diagnosis Dollars" has resulted in the indictment of 73 members and associates of the ring, including 52 arrested in raids...

17 Stories
Most Read on Newser