By Katie Lobosco
The FBI arrested 46 doctors and nurses across the country this week in the largest Medicare fraud bust ever.
In total, 243 people were arrested in 17 cities for allegedly billing Medicare for $712 million worth of patient care that was never given or unnecessary.
In one of the most egregious cases, owners of a mental health facility in Miami billed tens of millions of dollars for psychotherapy sessions based on treatment that was little more than moving patients to different locations, said Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Four people are charged for mass-marketing a talking glucose monitor and sending the devices to Medicare patients across the country who didn’t need or request them. They billed Medicare for the devices and received more than $22 million.
In some cases health care providers paid kickbacks to fraudsters who could get their hands on Medicare patients’ personal information. They would then use that info to bill Medicare for bogus care.
Sometimes fraudsters, known to the Feds as “patient recruiters,” will go to places like homeless shelters and soup kitchens and offer money to those who would share their Medicare patient numbers, a Department of Justice spokesman said.
