Nurse charged with brace scheme
By HME News Staff
Updated 8:40 AM CDT, Tue October 10, 2023
BOSTON – A Virginia-based nurse practitioner has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a $7.8 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary DME, including back and knee braces. According to charging documents, between December 2018 and April 2020, Daphne Jenkins worked with a telemedicine company to sign orders for medically unnecessary DME. She allegedly signed orders that were pre-populated based on telemarketing calls made to Medicare beneficiaries, when she had no contact with and had no medical relationship with the beneficiaries. Once Jenkins signed these orders, the telemarketing company sold the orders to DME suppliers and laboratories, which then submitted claims to Medicare. The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud comes with a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss, whichever is greater.
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