The Justice Department announced on July 5, 2023, that it recently charged 78 people in with health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes totaling $2.5 billion. Overall, prosecutors filed charges against people in sixteen states as part of a coordinated crackdown. The bulk of the fraud appears to have been conducted through telemedicine schemes organized by Brett Blackman, Gregory Schreck, and Gary Cox who submitted more than $1.9 billion in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and other government insurers for medically unnecessary items.
The indictment alleges Blackman, Schreck and Cox ran a software platform called DMERx, which authorities contend created false doctors’ orders in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes. Hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries were allegedly targeted as part of the scheme, which prosecutors say occurred from 2015 to 2020. About $639 million was actually paid out on false claims, according to authorities.
Individuals in the U.S. and abroad engaged in an operation that targeted elderly and disabled people through advertisements and the mail, connecting them with offshore staff who upsold unnecessary equipment and prescriptions. These included orthotic braces, prescription skin creams, and other items that were medically unnecessary and ineligible for Medicare reimbursement.
Congratulations to the Justice Department. Hard work and determination resulted in catching one of the largest such schemes prosecuted in Justice Department history.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Executives of Johnson County health care company ran $1.9 billion fraud scheme, feds say” published by Kansas City Star on July 5, 2023
Two executives of an Overland Park-based company have been charged with conspiring to commit $1.9 billion in health care fraud, marking what officials called one of the largest such schemes prosecuted in Justice Department history.
Johnson County residents Brett Blackman, 39, and Gregory Schreck, 49, were indicted in the Southern District of Florida for allegedly conspiring to commit fraud, conspiring to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and conspiring to defraud the U.S. The men were charged along with Gary Cox, 77, of Arizona, in connection with more than $1.96 billion in fake claims submitted to federally-funded programs, according to prosecutors.
