U.S. Charges 11 in Russia-Based Scheme to Bilk Medicare of $10.6 Billion
When hundreds of thousands of people enrolled in Medicare were billed for expensive medical equipment they never asked for in 2023, it was part of a $10.6 billion fraud, among the largest such schemes in the program’s history, federal prosecutors said this week.
The scheme was carried out by 11 defendants, including citizens of the United States, Estonia and the Czech Republic, who worked for a criminal organization based in Russia, according to an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York on Thursday.
Those involved in the fraud bought dozens of companies that were accredited to submit claims to Medicare and the program’s supplemental insurers, prosecutors say.
Then, using personal information stolen from more than a million Americans, the defendants filed billions of dollars in claims for equipment that had not been ordered by people Записан в Medicare и не им е доставен, съгласно обвиняването.
Този отчет открива, че над 450 000 бенефициенти на Medicare са били таксувани за катетри в урина през 2023 година, почти деветкратно нарастване по отношение на предходните години. Седем медицински снабдители бяха виновни за подаването на по -голямата част от исковете, се споделя в отчета. Only one of the seven had a working phone number when The New York Times tried to contact them last year.Stephen Nuckolls, the chief executive of Coastal Carolina Health Care and a member of the association’s board, said he had started to notice an unusual number of monthly claims for medical equipment being submitted to his organization’s providers in fall 2023. He reported what he thought was Измама във Федералните центрове за Medicare и Medicaid Service.
Г-н. Nuckolls сподели, че са нужни систематични промени, с цел да се оправят с метода, по който доставчиците са тествани, евентуално посредством слагане на месечна капачка на разноските си.
" Ние се опитваме да го спрем ", сподели той. „ Всички крещяха. “
