Nothing happens without a signature. To be considered valid for Medicare medical review purposes, the orders must include date of service and the signature by the author of the medical record. The signature serves as a testament that the services he or she provided were accurately and fully documented, reviewed, and authenticated. Of course, it’s assumed the doctor actually spent time with the patient. But really, never assume. Because Dr. David M Young never met the patients. And he did nothing more on the 13,000 Medicare claims authenticated by him than rubber stamp them. For this, Young was paid $475,000. A small amount when all his signatures were used in a scheme to falsely bill Medicare for over $70 milion in fraudulent claims.
In the scheme, Dr. Young signed thousands of medical records and prescriptions for orthotic braces and genetic tests that falsely represented that the braces and tests were medically necessary after he supposedly diagnosed the beneficiaries, developed a plan of care for them, and recommended that they receive certain additional treatment. Unfortunately for Young, undercover agents were posing as Medicare beneficiaries. Beneficiaries whom he did not see, speak to, or otherwise treat. Yet they did get a brace.
On May 27, 2024, Young was found guilty of health care fraud. Facing a ten-year prison sentence, one wonders if Young feels that rubberstamping was worth the 475,000 he received in this scheme.
Excellent job by the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Fredericksburg Doctor Convicted In $70M Medicare Fraud Scheme, facing Decade In Prison” published by Hoodline on May 27, 2024.
A Fredericksburg doctor is facing up to a decade behind bars for cooking up a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud, federal authorities announced Friday. David M. Young, 61, was slapped with a conviction for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and making false statements in an elaborate scheme that falsely billed Medicare for over $70 million, according to a KXAN report.
Young was accused of prescribing unnecessary orthotic braces and genetic tests to more than 13,000 Medicare beneficiaries, and he didn’t even bother to see or even talk to most of them, including undercover agents who posed as patients; this scheme netted him roughly $475,000 for his false sign-offs. The details paint a picture of a man who betrayed his Hippocratic oath for a staggering profit, health officials said.
