Medicare is our highly depended upon federal health insurance program. It primarily serves Americans who are 65 years old or older, but also supports certain younger individuals who have disabilities. Sadly, Medicare fraud is common in our nation. Medicare fraud can take various forms. They include billing fraud, kickbacks, identity theft, pharmacy fraud, uncoding and unbundling.
Medicare fraud not only drains financial resources from the program, but it also undermines the integrity of the healthcare system. It compromises patient care and contributes to higher healthcare costs overall. Detecting and preventing Medicare fraud is a priority for government agencies, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They work to investigate and prosecute fraudulent activities to protect beneficiaries and the Medicare program's sustainability.
Virginia man receives two-year prison sentence.
Any deliberate and deceptive activity committed with the intent to obtain unauthorized benefits or payments from the Medicare program is an unjust act. 33 year-old Ronald A. Beasley II committed such an unjust act. As reported by the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs yesterday, the Portsmouth, Virginia resident has been sentenced to two years in prison. His crime: defrauding Medicare of over $1 million in prescription drug benefits.
As the report details, Beasley was the pharmacist in charge at NH Pharma. The pharmacy is located in Lake Mary, Florida. Through NH Pharma, Beasley and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for expensive compound drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed. Instead, the team of fraudsters provided Medicare patients an inexpensive compound drug cream that Medicare did not cover.
“In fact, NH Pharma did not buy enough of the expensive prescription drugs to fill all the prescriptions NH Pharma billed to Medicare,” details the report, “In total, Beasley and his co-conspirators received more than $1 million in fraudulent Medicare proceeds.”
Miami man receives 30-month prison sentence.
Here in Florida, 55 year-old, Aurelio Luis Perez took his illegal actions a very scary step further. As the Southern District of Florida branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office reported yesterday, the Miami resident assaulted a federal cooperating witness at a local club. As a result of this crime and his subsequent guilty plea on March 24, Perez received a 30-month prison sentence.
The assault took place a few days after the victim was identified as a government witness in a federal criminal trial. According to the report, Perez followed the victim into the restroom and assaulted him while yelling, “This is for snitching” in Spanish.
“As a result of the assault, the witness suffered a cracked front tooth, inflammation, bruising and lacerations to his lip,” explains the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “The victim did not know Perez. Perez was a close associate of another individual under investigation at the time of the attack. Perez’s associate has been convicted for his role in distributing over $230 million of adulterated HIV medication.”
Are you an attorney working on a fraud case?
Allegiant Experts can help you! Everything we do focuses on inclusive, comprehensive, cost-effective health care. Among our many services, we coordinate and support courageous whistleblowers that shine lights on fraud, waste and abuse. Contact us today to schedule a complimentary consultation. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 407-217-5831. You may also email us at info@allegiantexperts.com.
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