Boca Raton, Fla.-based chiropractor Jonathan Rouffe was sentenced to four years in prison for a $20 million scheme that resulted in more than $10 million in payments from both Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Rouffe, 49, was also ordered to pay more than $10.7 million in restitution and forfeit more than $3.1 million, according to an Aug. 29 Justice Department news release.
The Justice Department said Mr. Rouffe and others created a conglomerate of durable medical equipment supply companies in 2018 and lied to Medicare to secure billing privileges. Over the course of one year, Mr. Ruffle and the others submitted more than $20 million in illegal durable medical equipment claims.
Mr. Rouffe and others purchased thousands of durable medical equipment claims from purported marketers to attain the high volume of claims, the Justice Department said. On invoices, they disguised the kickbacks as marketing services and claimed the durable medical equipment prescriptions had been generated through telemedicine services that never occured. Millions of dollars were paid to the marketers to secure the claims.