CEO of medical equipment company sentenced to 40 months for Medicare fraud

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/ceo-medical-equipment-company-sentenced-40-months-medicare-fraud

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Georgia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 3, 2019

CEO of medical equipment company sentenced to 40 months for Medicare fraud

Criminal enterprise is first sentence in nationwide 'Operation Brace Yourself'

SAVANNAH, GA: The chief executive officer of a string of Savannah-based durable medical equipment companies was sentenced to more than three years in prison for a scheme that defrauded Medicare out of millions of dollars. Roderic Bain, 57, of Savannah, who pled guilty to one count of False Statements Relating to Health Care Matters, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Savannah to serve 40 months in prison and to pay more than $1.9 million in fines and restitution, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

According to court documents and as previously announced, Bain, who owned and operated a series of durable medical equipment companies, oversaw a multi-year scheme resulting in nearly $10 million in claims billed to Medicare. Working with a number of others, Bain operated a network that paid kickbacks to obtain patient information, specifically that of Medicare patients. Through a third-party biller, Bain would then bill Medicare Part B and Part C plans for medically unnecessary medical equipment and orthotics, including a variety of back and knee braces that were not ordered as medically necessary by a physician. During the course of the investigation, agents determined Bain and his affiliates were linked to a larger nationwide scheme, recently announced as “Operation Brace Yourself.” Bain is the first defendant sentenced under the ongoing investigation.
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Nationwide, “Operation Brace Yourself” involved the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes by companies in exchange for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries by medical professionals working with fraudulent telemedicine companies for back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces that are medically unnecessary. Some of the defendants controlled an international telemarketing network that lured hundreds of thousands of elderly and/or disabled patients into a criminal scheme that crossed borders, involving call centers in the Philippines and throughout Latin America. The defendants paid doctors to prescribe medical equipment either without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephone conversation with patients they had never met or seen. As announced recently, “Operation Brace Yourself” led to the execution of more than 80 search warrants in 17 federal districts with charges against 24 defendants so far.

This investigation remains ongoing. Any doctors or medical professionals who have been involved with alleged fraudulent telemedicine and medical equipment marketing schemes should report this conduct to the FBI hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Any beneficiaries who believe their identity may have been used fraudulently also should contact the FBI hotline.
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