A medical doctor from Kansas City, Kansas, has admitted to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to order medically unnecessary healthcare services for thousands of patients. The defendant pleaded guilty on April 4, 2025, to charges related to ordering unnecessary durable medical equipment, pain creams, and genetic tests through telemedicine platforms.
From 2017 until 2020, the defendant conspired with several healthcare companies, using telemedicine portals to review patient information and make healthcare recommendations without ever physically examining or personally evaluating the patients. 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.
The defendant, who was licensed to practice in 22 states during the period of the crime, worked primarily as an anesthesiologist. As part of the scheme, he received approximately $30 for each order and was paid a total of $674,000 by five different companies. These fraudulent orders resulted in Medicare payouts of at least $1.5 million. At sentencing, the US Attorney’s Office will argue that the total loss from the fraudulent activities is between $7 million and $9.5 million.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has conducted numerous investigations into fraud schemes involving companies and individuals that falsely claimed to provide telehealth, telemedicine, or telemarketing services, exploiting the use of telehealth. These schemes raise significant concerns due to their potential to cause considerable harm to federal healthcare programs and their beneficiaries. Potential harms may include: (1) an inappropriate increase in costs to federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary items and services and, in some instances, items and services a beneficiary never receives; (2) potential to harm beneficiaries by, for example, providing medically unnecessary care, items that could harm a patient, or improperly delaying needed care; and (3) corruption of medical decision-making. Practitioner arrangements with telemedicine companies may also lead to criminal, civil, or administrative liability under federal laws including, for example, the federal anti-kickback statute, OIG’s exclusion authority related to kickbacks, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law provision for kickbacks, the criminal healthcare fraud statute, and the False Claims Act.
Discussion Points
- Review facility policies on telemedicine to ensure they effectively safeguard against fraud, waste, and abuse. Make sure they emphasize compliance with legal requirements and that identifying and reporting fraudulent claims or kickbacks is integrated into the compliance program.
- Provide education to nursing and business office staff about their responsibility to identify and report concerns regarding unnecessary medications, treatments, supplies, or equipment. Ensure that training on fraud, waste, and abuse includes the prohibition of accepting illegal kickbacks or bribes for ordering medical equipment, lab tests, or prescriptions. Staff should be aware of their obligation to report suspicious activities to supervisors or via the facility’s hotline.
- Conduct routine audits to verify the appropriate use of telemedicine services and ensure staff are not involved in bribery or kickbacks. Regularly assess staff awareness of their responsibility to report compliance issues and ensure they know how to report concerns to supervisors, the compliance officer, or anonymously via the hotline.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, Inc. for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
