The former owner of two Massachusetts-linked telemedicine companies has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a $110 million Medicare fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary orthotic braces, the Justice Department said in an August 20 news release.
Steven Richardson, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., operated Expansion Media and Hybrid Management Group, through which he worked with telemarketing companies that targeted Medicare beneficiaries and paid his companies on a per-order basis to generate DME orders.
MR. Richardson then worked with medical staffing companies to find physicians and nurses willing to sign pre-populated orders, typically without any contact with the beneficiaries, with records falsely portraying the providers as having performed legitimate examinations. The signed orders were sold to DME suppliers, which submitted claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary equipment. Mr. Richardson pleaded guilty in April 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
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