Federal Prosecutors Charge Arizona Company in Over $900 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Washington — Federal prosecutors have charged the owners of an Arizona wound care company and two nurse practitioners for allegedly conspiring to defraud Medicare of over $900 million. The Justice Department announced on Thursday that the defendants targeted elderly patients, including many who were terminally ill, in an extensive medical scheme.
According to prosecutors, the accused performed medically unnecessary skin graft treatments, billing Medicare at an astonishing rate of approximately $1 million per patient. The scheme reportedly involved hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks for fraudulent Medicare billing practices. The defendants allegedly applied "unnecessary and expensive amniotic wound grafts" to patients without appropriate treatment for infections and on superficial wounds that did not require such treatments.
In just 16 months, Medicare paid two of the defendants over $600 million as part of this fraud. Prosecutors claim the conspirators received over $330 million in illegal kickbacks from a graft distributor for purchasing grafts and coordinating false Medicare billing. Authorities have seized more than $50 million from the alleged fraudsters, along with luxury vehicles, gold, and jewelry.
This case forms part of a larger two-week initiative aimed at tackling various healthcare fraud schemes nationwide. A total of 193 defendants, including over 70 licensed healthcare professionals, have been charged, amounting to more than $1.5 billion in losses. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized that all parties involved in such fraudulent activities, regardless of their status, will be held accountable.
The coordinated enforcement effort seeks not only to deter future fraud but also to recover funds obtained through illegal means, targeting a wide range of healthcare-related schemes across the country.
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