A Connecticut man admitted his role in a multimillion-dollar durable medical equipment (DME) healthcare fraud and kickback scheme. Jesse Foote, 58, of Fairfield, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From December 2017 to March 2021, Foote conspired with overseas telemarking call centers, DME suppliers, telemedicine companies, and doctors to submit fraudulent claims to healthcare benefit programs, including Medicare and TRICARE, through a circular scheme of kickbacks and bribes. Foote controlled a marketing company though which he purchased patient “leads” from overseas telemarketing companies, which consisted of information about Medicare and other beneficiaries and pre-written doctors’ orders for DME. The telemarketing call centers targeted Medicare beneficiaries and others with health insurance to persuade them to accept DME, including orthotic braces, without regard to medical necessity.
Foote paid bribes and kickbacks to telemedicine companies, which in turn paid bribes and kickbacks to doctors, to obtain doctors’ orders for DME based on the leads. The doctors often approved the DME orders without having had any contact with the beneficiary and without making a bona fide assessment that the DME was medically necessary. Foote then sold the signed doctors’ orders to others with whom he had kickback arrangements. The doctors’ orders were ultimately submitted to DME suppliers, including DME suppliers controlled by Foote, which submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to healthcare benefit programs including Medicare, TRICARE, and private insurance companies. In total, Foote and his conspirators caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to healthcare benefit programs totaling more than $7.8 million for DME.
