A federal jury convicted a Michigan man for his role in devising and executing a $1.8 million scheme to defraud Medicare by billing for services under another doctor’s name after Medicare revoked his privileges to participate in the program. The defendant, Dr. Kenneth Mitchell, 60, of Oakland County, Michigan, was also convicted for falsification of records designed to prevent detection of this fraud and aggravated identity theft for falsely corresponding with Medicare under the name of another physician.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mitchell was revoked from participating in the Medicare program in January 2015. Shortly thereafter, he convinced his then-partner to enroll in Medicare and assist in opening a new clinic called Urban Health Care Group PLLC. Once the new business was set up, Mitchell continued to bill Medicare for services just as he had prior to his revocation, only now exclusively under the name of his partner. Upon law enforcement’s discovery of this scheme, Medicare suspended payments to Urban Health Care Group PLLC. Mitchell subsequently submitted false statements to Medicare regarding the fraud allegations (again, under his partner’s name) in an effort to undermine the government’s investigation and ensure the release of Medicare funds to the bank account he controlled.
