In 2021, Dr. Le Thu was indicted for his part in an international telemedicine healthcare scheme that allegedly stole $37 million from Medicaid and Medicare programs with fraudulent claims involving compound medications and durable medical equipment. As early as 2014, Thu allegedly wrote prescriptions for the owners of the telemedicine company, without speaking to patients and with no regard to medical necessity. These fraudsters have yet to have their day court. However, Thu got to have his own day for his second healthcare scheme that he ran concurrently with his first. Turns out, Thu was a multi-scheming fraudster.
In a similar approach to the compound medical and DME fraudulent claim scheme, Thu began filing fraudulent claims, beginning in 2017, to Medicare. But for this scheme, the prescription orders were for genetic testing, something not normally covered under Medicare, unless approved by special order of a doctor. Thu did not see, speak to, or provide any medical services to the Medicare beneficiaries in connection with this scheme. He gave pre-filled prescriptions for genetic testing to his co-conspirators, although they had no medical training. They created false medical documents to support Thu’s fraudulent orders which were forwarded to laboratories to process.
Thu caused laboratories to submit approximately $35.3 million in claims to Medicare based on his fraudulent orders for which Medicare paid approximately $25.3 million. In all the fraudulent claims, Thu stated, among other things, that the test results would assist him in making patient-specific clinical decisions which would directly impact the patient’s medical management. Third party lab’s billed Medicare up to $25,000 per claims.
On April 25, 2025, Thu pled guilty to healthcare fraud.
Excellent job by the United States Health Care Fraud Unit in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on “Massachusetts doctor to plead guilty in $35.5M Medicare fraud scheme” published by The Boston Herald on April 25, 2025.
A Massachusetts doctor indicted for her role in an international telemedicine kickback scheme is wrapped up in another legal setback, agreeing to plead guilty to allegedly defrauding Medicare for genetic testing services she never provided.
Le Thu, a Boston-based emergency medicine physician, is accused of causing third-party laboratories to submit roughly $35.5 million in claims to Medicare based on orders for genetic testing that allegedly contained false medical documentation. Medicare paid about $25.3 million, Massachusetts US Attorney Leah Foley’s office said Friday.
