In the largest-ever crackdown on health-care fraud by the Justice Department, criminal charges have been filed against 243 people across the nation involving $712 million in false billing from Medicare, officials announced Thursday.
“This action represents the largest criminal health-care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, as she announced the sweep by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
“The defendants include doctors, patient recruiters, home health-care providers, pharmacy owners and others,” Lynch said. “They billed for equipment that wasn’t provided, for care that wasn’t needed and services that weren’t rendered.”