A Georgia nurse practitioner who owned two telemedicine companies has been sentenced to 120 months in prison for orchestrating a scheme that submitted more than $136 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for medically unnecessary orthotic braces and prescription drugs, the Justice Department said in a June 30 news release.
Jean Wilson, of Richmond Hill, Ga., paid illegal kickbacks to medical providers to sign orders for braces and drug prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries who did not need them, then sold the signed orders to marketing companies for approximately $90 per beneficiary.
Evidence showed practitioners working for Ms. Wilson signed orders for four or more orthotics per beneficiary for more than 3,000 patients, with over 40 beneficiaries receiving orders for 10 or more orthotics. Ms. Wilson and her husband, who was previously sentenced to seven years for his role in the scheme, used proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles including multiple Rolls-Royces. Ms. Wilson was ordered to pay $66 million in restitution.
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