A medical doctor from the Kansas City, Kansas area admitted accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to order medically unnecessary healthcare for thousands of patients. Dr. Scott Taggart Roethle, 47, admitted that from 2017 until 2020, he conspired with healthcare companies and others to order medically unnecessary durable medical equipment, pain creams and genetic tests for thousands of patients in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Dr. Roethle contracted with multiple healthcare companies as a telemedicine doctor.
Using electronic portals to review patient information and documents, Dr. Roethle ordered healthcare services for patients without evaluating them or their actual medical needs. He did not have a prior doctor-patient relationship with the telemedicine patients and admitted providing no follow-up care after ordering the healthcare services. He was typically paid about $30 for each of his fraudulent orders. He admitted receiving payments of $674,000 from five companies. He also admitted that Medicare paid out at least $1.5 million while relying on his fraudulent orders. At the time of Dr. Roethle’s sentencing, the US Attorney’s Office will argue that the total loss due to the healthcare fraud is between $7 million and $9.5 million. Dr. Roethle was licensed to practice in 22 states during the time of his crime and worked primarily as an anesthesiologist.
