Becker's has reported on three physician fraud cases since Dec. 16.
1. A former Huntsville, Ala., family physician and her wife were sentenced in federal court for drug crimes, healthcare fraud and COVID-19 disaster relief fraud Dec. 18. Francene Gayle, MD, was sentenced to 87 months in prison by Judge Liles Burke on four opioid prescribing charges, one count of healthcare fraud and one count of wire fraud. Mr. Burke sentenced her wife, Schara Davis, to 42 months in prison and one count of health care fraud and one count of wire fraud. Dr. Gayle and Ms. Davis formerly owned a medical practice together.
2. Mark Mazzare, MD, a physician in Tyler, Texas, pleaded guilty to his role in a $5.5 million over-the-counter COVID-19 test fraud scheme. Dr. Mazzare purchased Medicare beneficiary ID numbers and used them to bill Medicare for millions of dollars in OTC COVID-19 test kits, many of which were not requested by beneficiaries.
Dr. Mazzare partnered with a "purported marketer" to conceal the identification numbers as "lead packages," which were actually fraudulently created audio recordings purported to be the voices of the beneficiaries requesting the test kits. He then caused the test to be shipped to the beneficiaries tied to each ID number, regardless of whether they had actually ordered the tests.
3. A Whitefish, Mo.-based physician was sentenced for his role in a $31 million fraud scheme. From January 2022 to July 2023, Ronald Dean, MD, was paid by a telemedicine company to sign orders for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment and then charged Medicare, and other government programs, for telemedicine office visits that did not occur, according to a Dec. 13 news release from the Justice Department.