The former CEO and founder of Stimwave has been convicted of selling a fake medical device component that was implanted in patients.
Laura Perryman founded Stimwave, a company that manufactured and distributed implantable neurostimulation devices, in 2010. From around 2017 to 2020, Ms. Perryman was part of a scheme to design, make and market a non-functioning component of a neurostimulator medical device, according to a March 7 Justice Department news release.
She sold the "dummy" device to physicians for around $16,000 and instructed providers to bill insurance for implanting the device through two separate reimbursement codes. The non-functioning component was marketed as a receiver of radiofrequency energy, but it was made of plastic.
The original product targeted peripheral nerves, but the dummy part was included in the device in or about 2020 so that physicians would have a receiver to implant in patients and submit insurance reimbursement claims for.
Ms. Perryman was convicted of one count of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, which respectively carry maximum sentences of 10 and 20 years in prison.