A national sales director from Port Jefferson, N.Y., has pleaded guilty to a scheme involving kickbacks to physicians in exchange for ordering unnecessary brain scans, resulting in $70.6 million in fraudulent Medicare claims, according to an April 2 news release from the Justice Department.
What happened?
- Between June 2013 and September 2020, David Fuhrmann conspired with others, including two managers at a mobile medical diagnostics company offering transcranial Doppler services, to pay physicians kickbacks for referring patients.
- Physicians received payments in cash and checks based on the number of TCD ultrasounds they ordered.
- The kickback arrangements were disguised as legitimate payments for use of office space and administrative support, falsely appearing to reflect fair market value rather than referral volume.
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