A Florida man was arraigned on charges relating to his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare by billing for medically unnecessary prescriptions. Eric Van Vleet, 28, of Delray Beach, Florida, is charged in an eight-count indictment with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, healthcare fraud, conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute, and payment of illegal kickbacks. From February 2018 to September 2019, Van Vleet operated Hype Med LLC, which generated medically unnecessary prescriptions through a telemarketing and telemedicine scheme. As part of the healthcare, wire fraud, and kickback conspiracy, Van Vleet and Hype Med identified Medicare beneficiaries to target for expensive drugs. Call center employees contacted the beneficiaries by telephone to pressure them to agree to try expensive medications, such as pain creams, scar creams, eczema creams, migraine medication, as well as a combination of prescription medications intended to be used as a “foot soak.” Van Vleet and Hype Med then transmitted recordings of telephone calls with the beneficiaries, together with pre-marked prescription pads for particular drugs that would yield exorbitant reimbursements, to telemedicine companies. Hype Med paid the telemedicine companies kickbacks for every beneficiary referred for a prescription, and the telemedicine companies paid doctors to approve the prescriptions.
Van Vleet then directed the prescriptions to pharmacies, including Apogee Bio-Pharm LLC, located in Edison, New Jersey, with which Hype Med had a kickback arrangement. The pharmacies filled the prescriptions and sought reimbursement from federal healthcare benefit programs, including Medicare. The pharmacies, including Apogee, then paid a portion of each reimbursement to Hype Med as a kickback. Van Vleet and Hype Med received at least $343,684 in kickback payments from the owners of Apogee. The principals of Apogee — William Welwart, Ethan Welwart, and Gary Kaczka — are charged with healthcare fraud and related offenses in a separate indictment. Elan Yaish, former president of Apogee, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute.
