From an Illinois physician ordered to pay more than $25 million for more than 4,000 violations of the False Claims Act, to the acquittal of a medical lab CEO in an alleged $1.4 billion scheme, here are 11 healthcare billing fraud cases Becker's has reported since March 23:
1. Paul Mansour, a California pharmacist and co-owner of Best Buy Drugs in Sierra Madre, pleaded guilty to fraud for creating fake patient profiles to duplicate prescriptions and then submit false claims, billing Medicare for the medications under the names of actual patients.
2. A registered nurse and nurse practitioner who defrauded Medicare and commercial payers of almost $12 million was sentenced to seven years in prison.
3. Sandy Mai Trang Nguyen, a former licensed pharmacist in Irvine, Calif., was found guilty on 21 counts of healthcare fraud and sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for an $11 million Tricare scheme.
4. A Kentucky physician and nurse practitioner were each sentenced to prison for a scheme involving healthcare fraud, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
5. Matteson, Ill.-based physician Ajibola Ayeni, MD, was ordered to pay more than $25 million for more than 4,000 violations of the False Claims Act.
6. Saginaw, Mich.-based Covenant HealthCare and two physicians paid more than $69 million in three civil settlements to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act
7. The owner of a Utah lab pleaded guilty to his role in an $89 million fraud and kickback scheme involving genetic cancer screening tests.
8. Margate, N.J.-based Brian Sokalsky, DO, pleaded guilty for his role in a $5 million scheme to defraud payers by submitting claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions.
9. The owners of a Houston-based home health company were indicted on charges related to an alleged $8.7 million healthcare fraud scheme.
10. A federal jury convicted a physician and a chiropractor of billing Medicaid for millions in medically unnecessary urinalysis testing for their patients.
11. A Florida jury acquitted Christian Fletcher, the CEO of LifeBrite Laboratories, in an alleged $1.4 billion fraud scheme.