Trump administration charges 455 people, including doctors, with $6.5 billion in healthcare fraud
In the Trump administration’s latest effort to combat fraud, the Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against 455 people for allegedly participating in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes.
The defendants, including 90 doctors and other healthcare professionals, were involved in a $6.5 billion fraud. false claims This situation causes serious harm to patients, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
“This is just the beginning. Scammers will no longer be able to defraud American taxpayers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference Tuesday. “If you want to harm or deceive Americans, we will find you, seize all your assets, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
Authorities have highlighted a defendant who they allege stamped a student’s cardiovascular test as normal without warning the family that his heart was enlarged. Kaiden Francis, an 18-year-old college basketball player, died during a practice weeks later.
As Surgeon General Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted at the press conference, a record 45 states and territories participated in this year’s National Health Care Fraud Elimination event. Trump administration put pressure on Medicare and Medicaid fraud In many states led primarily by Democrats, it has led governors to allege political bias.
Management was as follows: particularly focused about healthcare fraud. Dr. Mehmet OzHe became one of the leading players running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; He uses his TV background to film videos in areas he claims are hotspots for fraud. The agency plans to stop payments on fraudulent claims before they are made.
“Health care fraud steals from taxpayers, exploits vulnerable patients, and puts lives at risk,” Kennedy said in a statement.
The cases included allegations of fraudulent wound care that resulted in Medicare paying $2 billion to a company in Arizona and $906 million to another company in Texas. In another case, a hospice owner in California allegedly paid a funeral home employee to obtain information about the recently deceased and fraudulently billed Medicare for several days of hospice services.
The takedown also included accusations against 295 defendants and more than $518 million in false claims submitted to Medicaid; this was the largest number of people and funds lost to fraud in the history of the Department of Justice.
Last year, the Justice Department filed more than $14.6 billion in fraudulent claims against 324 defendants during its annual takedown effort.
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