A California physician was sentenced to 37 months for his role in a $2.8 million fraud scheme.
While serving as medical director of several hospice companies from October 2014 to March 2016, John Thropay, MD, 74, fraudulently certified Medicare patients having terminal illnesses that the patients did not have so that he could bill Medicare for hospice services, according to a Aug. 28 news release from the Justice Department.
In 2015, he was listed as the attending provider for more hospice claims paid by Medicare than any other provider in the U.S., according to the release.
Thropay was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of healthcare fraud on Feb. 15.