Despite the commitment by Department of Health and Human Service to prevent, detect, and eliminate fraud, Medicare fraud is a $100 billion gouge to the U.S. taxpayers bank account, annually. Fraudsters constantly scheme to make that loss bigger. Jordan Bunnel and his co-conspirators owned, operated, or had financial interests in all the businesses necessary to commit Medicare fraud. Marketing call center to confirm billing data? Check. Clinical Laboratory to test patient samples? Check! Tele-medicine company to arrange for medical testing? Check! Bunnel had financial control of all three companies and was poised to make money. And he did. From October 2018 through July 2019, Bunnell caused a loss to Medicare and other federal and private health care benefit programs of approximately $89 million.
Bunnel just needed the patients and the doctors. Almost like a “Field of Dreams”. Build the field, and in time the players and fans will come. Build a field of fraud enterprising businesses, customers and doctors will come. Bunnel and his co-conspirators quickened the clock though.They paid kickbacks and bribes to various parties in exchange for orders for cancer genetic screening tests and referrals for beneficiaries of the Medicare program and other healthcare benefit programs. But the fraud scheme for Bunnel did not last long. On March 29, 2023, Brunel was sentenced to nine years in prison and restitution of $48 million.
Great job by the FBI for stopping this fraud in a timely manner.
Today’s Fraud Of The Day is based on article “Utah lab owner admits role in $89M kickback scheme involving cancer genetic screening tests” published by LabPulse on March 29, 2023
A Utah laboratory owner on Tuesday admitted his role in an $89 million healthcare fraud and kickback scheme involving genetic cancer screening tests, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. Jordan Bunnell pled guilty in a Newark, NJ, federal court to one count each of conspiring to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and conspiring to defraud the U.S. in connection with a scheme to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.
According to case documents and court statements, Bunnell and others owned, operated, and had a financial interest in a marketing call center, a clinical laboratory, and a telemedicine company that conducted or arranged for a variety of medical tests.
