A Memphis doctor faces charges of TennCare fraud and theft of property following an investigation by special agents with the Medicaid Fraud Control Division (MFCD) of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). In February 2023, TBI’s MFCD special agents received a fraud referral from the TennCare Office of Program Integrity, alleging the unbundling of medical codes and excessive billing of certain procedures by Medical Doctor Rande Lazar. Unbundling occurs when a provider uses multiple procedural codes that should be covered by a single comprehensive code, with an intent to increase reimbursement. During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that from January 2018 through November 2022, Dr. Lazar was responsible for claims billed to TennCare, which resulted in a loss of thousands of dollars to the State of Tennessee.
