A Johnson County, Kan., health software CEO has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for running a platform that generated false physician orders used to bill Medicare and other federal health programs more than $1 billion, according to an Oct. 15 news release from the Justice Department.
Brett Blackman, 43, owned and led HealthSplash, which acquired the online platform Power Mobility Doctor Rx, known as DMERx, in September 2017. Mr. Blackman and his co-conspirators used DMERx to connect pharmacies, DME suppliers and marketers with telemedicine companies that took kickbacks in exchange for signed orders, and they took a cut of the referrals. The orders falsely stated that physicians had examined and treated beneficiaries who had little or no contact with them. In one case, an order for an undercover agent posing as a beneficiary claimed the physician had performed in-person tests even though the two never spoke.
Suppliers and pharmacies billed Medicare and other insurers more than $1 billion and were paid more than $450 million. Medicare was billed for orthotic braces for more than 346,000 beneficiaries, an average of four braces each, and more than 1,200 beneficiaries were billed for at least 21 orthotics apiece. A jury convicted Mr. Blackman in April of conspiracy charges including healthcare fraud, wire fraud and paying and receiving kickbacks. His co-defendant, Gary Cox, was sentenced to 15 years in December 2025.
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