Ronald David Dean may have been a licensed physician in Montana, but the prioritization of profit before patients shows that his practice existed purely for financial gain, not the quality of his patients’ care. Starting in January of 2022 to July of 2023, Dean engaged in a $31,432,001 scheme where he fraudulently billed Medicare, Veterans Affairs (VA), and Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) for services not provided, resulting in $13,756,724 in payments.
Dean was paid by a telemedicine company to sign orders for durable medical equipment that patients did not need, and then fraudulently charged Medicare, the VA, and RRB for telemedicine office visits that did not occur. Using information provided by the telemedicine company, Dean also prescribed unnecessary braces for the beneficiaries, without evaluating them himself. Furthermore, Dean provided blanket authorization for the telemedicine company to send out tests to anyone and bill Medicare for as many as the company desired, which had to have been unlimited! Because fraudsters have no limits.
Dean’s case was discovered as part of a strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against one hundred and ninety-three defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes that resulted in the submission of over $2.75 billion in alleged false billings. No limits were made by anyone of those fraudsters.
On December 16, 2024, Ronald David Dean was sentenced today to six months in prison, to be followed by six months of home confinement, fined $100,000 and ordered to pay $780,509 restitution.
Great job by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Whitefish doctor sentenced for defrauding federal health programs of $31M” published by The Daily Montanan on December 16, 2024.
A Whitefish physician who admitted to defrauding Medicare and other federal government health programs through a telemedicine conspiracy that resulted in more than $31 million in false billing was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months home confinement, and one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to a Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, Ronald David Dean, 64, of Whitefish, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Dean was fined $100,000 and ordered to pay $780,509 restitution. U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided. The case was part of the Justice Department’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action.
