Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that a grand jury returned an Indictment charging David Antonio Becerril, M.D., age 67, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and formerly of Selah, Washington, with sixteen counts of conspiracy, fraud, and false statements in connection with Dr. Becerril’s participation in a telemarketing healthcare fraud scheme. According to the Indictment, between February 2018 and September 2019, Dr. Becerril, a licensed Washington physician, participated in a scheme and conspiracy to obtain millions of dollars by falsely billing Medicare for medically-unnecessary genetic tests and durable medical equipment, including back, knee, shoulder, and ankle braces. The Indictment alleges that Dr. Becerril signed false and fraudulent orders for genetic tests and braces for elderly Medicare beneficiaries that Dr. Becerril was not treating, and with whom he never spoke or interacted. The Indictment alleges that, instead, telemarketers associated with a company known as Real Time Physicians, LLC (Real Time) contacted the elderly Medicare beneficiaries and obtained their personal information and beneficiary numbers.
The Indictment alleges that Dr. Becerril, using an internet portal provided by Real Time, placed false and fraudulent orders for braces and genetic tests for the beneficiaries, signing orders and other documents prepared by Real Time that contained false medical information and made it appear that he was treating the beneficiaries. According to the Indictment, Real Time then sold the orders to genetic testing labs and durable medical equipment companies, who then billed Medicare, sharing the proceeds with Real Time. Real Time paid Dr. Becerril a $20 kickback for each beneficiary for which he placed a Medicare order. Dr. Becerril reviewed these orders for as little as 11 seconds before signing them and falsely attesting to their medical necessity, and never once declined to sign an order. The Indictment alleges that Medicare was billed $4.1 million for fraudulent orders signed by Dr. Becerril, who never once spoke to, treated, or interacted with a patient, and paid out more than $1.5 million before the fraud was uncovered. In June 2022, the Department of Justice announced that Marc Sporn, 59, of Delray Beach, Florida, the former owner of Real Time and other similar companies, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy to fraudulently bill Medicare.