The owner of a telemedicine company, Christopher Harwood, admitted to leading a $46.2 million Medicare fraud conspiracy, paying doctors with no relationship to Medicare to approve genetic tests and orthotic braces for people who didn’t need them.

Harwood owned and operated a telemedicine company called TelevisitMD. Together with the accomplices, he targeted Medicare patients through aggressive telemarketing campaigns, according to the DOJ.

Using the campaigns, Harwood tried to convince patients to purchase orthotic braces and genetic tests that they didn’t need.

He would pay doctors, who had no medical relationship with Medicare patients, to approve those orders. The orders were often signed without any direct contact and then sold to durable medical equipment (DME) supply companies, laboratories, and marketers who were part of the scheme.

Harwood also operated multiple DME supply companies, using them to bill Medicare millions of dollars for unnecessary orthotic braces. As a result of the scheme, at least $46.2 million in false and fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare, which paid $17.9 million on the claims. Harwood personally pocketed over $10.4 million.

DOJ says that Harwood pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and agreed to pay $17.9 million in restitution. He now faces up to 20 years in prison, with sentencing to be scheduled later.

The Fraud Section has charged more than 6,200 people who jointly billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion.

Medical and pharmaceutical scams are becoming ever more popular, especially with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). Crooks now use AI and deepfake technology to impersonate licensed physicians and medical clinics to sell counterfeit or unsafe medications.

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