Jury convicts DME owners in brace scheme
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:18 AM CDT, Tue July 13, 2021
DALLAS – A federal jury has convicted Dallas area owners and operators of two DME companies of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United states and to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to evidence presented at trial, Leah Hagan and Michael Hagen, the owners and operators of Metro DME Supply and Ortho Pain Solutions, paid a fixed rate per DME item in exchange for prescriptions and paperwork completed by telemedicine doctors that were used to submit false claims to Medicare. They paid illegal bribes and kickbacks and wired money to their co-conspirator’s call center in the Philippines that provided signed doctor’s orders for orthotic braces. Through the scheme, the Hagens billed Medicare Parts B and C about $59 million and were paid about $27 million. At sentencing, the Hagens each face a max sentence of 25 years in prison. The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Inspector General and the FBI, and was brought as part of Operation Brace Yourself.
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