fraud

Some seniors got dozens of COVID tests they never ordered. Bad actors may have used seniors' Medicare information to improperly bill the federal government — and could do it again, investigators say.

Arguments on Tuesday center on a powerful tool for fighting fraud in government contracts and programs. The case examines whether major pharmacies knowingly overcharged Medicare and Medicaid.

A House bill would close one of a laundry list of oversight gaps revealed in a recent investigation of the system regulators use to ban fraudsters from billing government health programs.

States are acting in the wake of a federal investigation into what officials say was a fraud scheme in which several now-closed South Florida nursing schools sold phony nursing diplomas and transcripts.

Federal authorities say three South Florida nursing school participated in a wire fraud scheme that they say created an illegal shortcut for aspiring nurses to get licensed and find employment.

Philip Esformes was found guilty in 2019 in what federal prosecutors described at the time as the “largest health care fraud scheme charged by the U.S. Justice Department.”

Health experts are warning older adults about an uptick in misleading marketing tactics that might lead some to sign up for Medicare Advantage plans that don’t cover their doctors or prescriptions and drive up their out-of-pocket costs.

The federal government alleges Modernizing Medicine of Boca Raton violated statutes through three marketing programs that increased its business and that of a laboratory company it was working with.

Oklahoma-based Carter Healthcare is accused of overbilling Medicare and billing for therapy that patients didn’t need between 2014 and 2016.

Officials say 35-year-old Daniel Joseph Tisone received a total of 10 loans and used the money to buy two homes, a boat and a diamond ring. He faces up to 60 years in prison.