A Florida nursing assistant has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in an $11.4 million healthcare fraud conspiracy involving medically unnecessary orthotic braces, the Justice Department said in an April 14 news release.
Christian Cruz, of Pompano Beach, owned and operated a DME supplier through which he submitted millions of dollars in false claims to Medicare. Mr. Cruz and a co-conspirator paid illegal kickbacks to obtain signed physicians’ orders and shipped orthotic braces to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide who neither requested nor needed them. Mr. Cruz also concealed the true ownership of his company from Medicare, as his co-conspirator was a convicted felon, and structured cash withdrawals to hide fraud proceeds.
A federal jury convicted Mr. Cruz in January on multiple counts of healthcare fraud, conspiracy and structuring. He was also ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution and $724,871 in forfeiture.
This is the ninth DME fraud case Becker’s has reported on since CMS announced a six-month nationwide moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain DME suppliers.
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