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By: The opinion Published Sep 21, 2023, 18:32 pm EDT
A Florida nurse practitioner was found guilty Thursday of committing $200 million in Medicare fraud.and faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to court documents.
Elizabeth Hernandez, 45, “fraudulently billed Medicare” for more than $200 million in braces and genetic testing that they were medically unnecessary, reported the Prosecutor’s Office for the southern judicial district of Florida.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the Hispanic woman participated in a extensive fraudulent scheme in which “telemarketing companies” They contacted Medicare patients to persuade them to order braces and unnecessary tests.
These companies then sent “pre-filled” orders to Hernández, who signed them, attesting that he had examined or treated the patients although he had never spoken to many of them, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
“In 2020, Hernández ordered more cancer genetic tests for Medicare beneficiaries than any other provider in the country, including oncologists and geneticists“he added.
The nurse practitioner personally pocketed $1.6 million in stolen money which he used to buy expensive cars, jewelry, home renovations and trips, the Prosecutor’s Office detailed.
Hernández was found guilty this Thursday by a jury at the end of a trial that lasted several days.
The woman faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison for the main charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and also lesser maximum penalties for health care fraud and making false statements.
According to local media NBC6, Hernández is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14.
In February of this year, a federal jury in the Middle District of Florida also convicted a Virginia man for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare for more than $1 million in prescription drug benefits.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ronald A. Beasley II, 33, of Portsmouth, was the pharmacist in charge of NH Pharma, a pharmacy located in Lake Mary, Florida.
Through NH Pharma, Beasley and his accomplices They billed Medicare for expensive compounded drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed, and instead provided Medicare patients with a low-cost compounded drug cream that Medicare does not cover.
Inventory records showed that NH Pharma did not purchase enough expensive prescription drugs to fill all of the prescriptions it billed to Medicare. In total, Beasley and his co-conspirators received more than $1 million in fraudulent proceeds.
With information from EFE
Keep reading:
- Man receives sentence of almost 4 years for selling 2.6 million Medicare beneficiary numbers
- Virginia man sentenced for $1 million Medicare fraud and could spend up to 40 years in prison
- Two doctors were convicted of defrauding Medicare of $31,000,000 in Florida