A federal district judge in Miami sentenced the last of 10 defendants for her role in a healthcare fraud scheme involving three physical therapy clinics that recruited and paid kickbacks to beneficiaries of Blue Cross Blue Shield health benefit programs (BCBS) and submitted false claims to BCBS for services that the clinics never provided to the beneficiaries or were not medically necessary. The three South Florida clinics involved in the scam were Life Blue Medical Center, Corp. (“Life Blue”), Blue Life Medical Center, LLC (“Blue Life”), and Miami Medical Therapy (“Miami Medical”). The defendants, all South Florida residents now convicted and sentenced, include clinic owners, a doctor, patient recruiters, a physical therapist assistant, and an office employee. The conspiracy resulted in more than $17 million in false claims being billed to BCBS, of which BCBS paid close to $5 million. Most of the claims were for unneeded or never-provided electrical stimulation, ultrasound therapy, therapeutic exercise, and other physical therapy procedures, as well as for allergy tests and durable medical equipment. The conspirators spent the money they received from BCBS on personal items and to further the fraud.
