A married couple living in Birchwood, Tenn., have been sentenced for a $65 million TriCare fraud scheme.
Jimmy Collins, 59, and Ashley Collins, 37, admitted in July that they worked to recruit sham Tricare beneficiaries to receive expensive medications in return for $300 kickbacks, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 25 news release.
Physicians at Choice MD, a medical clinic owned and operated by the couple, wrote prescriptions for the sham beneficiaries despite never examining the patients. Choice MD would then send the prescriptions to a pharmacy in Utah which filled the prescriptions and received reimbursements.
From December 2014 to May 9, 2015, conspirators wrote thousands of fraudulent prescriptions worth more than $65 million in fraudulent reimbursements, the release said.
Mr. Collins received a 10-year prison sentence and Ms. Collins was sentenced to 18 months of home confinement. They must pay more than $65 million in restitution to the Defense Health Agency and Tricare.