The owner of a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based telemedicine company has pleaded guilty to organizing and leading a $46.2 million Medicare fraud conspiracy, the Justice Department said in a March 27 news release.
Christopher Harwood owned and operated TelevisitMD through which he and co-conspirators targeted Medicare patients through aggressive telemarketing campaigns, inducing them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and genetic tests. Mr. Harwood paid physicians to approve orders for these products without meaningful interaction with patients and then sold the signed orders to DME supply companies and laboratories.
Mr. Harwood also owned and operated multiple DME supply companies that billed Medicare millions of dollars for unnecessary orthotic braces. Medicare paid $17.9 million based on the fraudulent claims, of which Mr. Harwood personally received more than $10.4 million. He agreed to pay $17.9 million in restitution and faces up to 20 years in prison.
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