DOJ Targets Healthcare Fraud, Many Arrested

DOJ Targets Healthcare Fraud, Many Arrested
DOJ Targets Healthcare Fraud, Many Arrested. Credit | Getty images

United States – Some 198 individuals have been indicted in a mass sweep targeting frauds in the provision of fake health care related services worth about USD 2.75 billion in losses as the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) on Thursday made this known.

In the DOJ 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action, the accused charged was 193 people, composed of 76 doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals, across 32 federal districts in the United States of America.

The DOJ in the coordinated operation described the government’s simultaneous actions across the states claiming that the government had forfeited “over USD 231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold, and other assets. ”

“It does not matter if you are a trafficker in a drug cartel or a corporate executive or medical professional employed by a health care company. If you profit from the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, you will be held accountable,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Major Fraud Cases Unveiled

In the DOJ’s case, the charges proffer that five people and a digital technology firm conspired to commit fraud of more than USD 900 million in Arizona concerning amniotic wound grafts, the sale of Adderall tablets, and other stimulants.

Two of the defendants, who own a wound care company, are accused of having received over USD 330 million to bill Medicare for wound grafts that they never provided. According to the Associated Press, nurse practitioners stated they were urged to apply the wound grafts to patients who did not require them, including some patients in hospice and those who died the same day the care was given.

Married duo Alexandra Gehrke and Jeffrey King, who own the company, were both arrested at Phoenix airport before they could take a flight to London earlier this month. Police authorities say that they knew the charges were imminent after information revealing how to delete computer traces was discovered in their house, as cited in the AP.

Additional Fraudulent Activities

The DOJ also accuses corporate employees of embezzling USD 90 million through fraud by selling tainted and mislabeled HIV medication, additional than USD 146 million in fake substance addiction treatment scams, and the total, approximately USD 1.1 billion was tied to telemedicine and laboratory fraud, as well as USD 450 million in other health care fraud and opioid conspiracies, as reported by The Hills.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that his department’s agents have been honoured to be involved in the operation that was carried out through cooperation with other agencies.