Physician charged with receiving more than $13M in fraudulent payments

SPOKANE, Wash. – Thomas Andrew Webster, M.D., of Sylvania, Ohio, has been charged by with one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statue in connection with a fraudulent medical supply scheme that targeted elderly Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries throughout Washington and in other states. According to charges announced by Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, between May 2021 and September 2023, “Company A” allegedly engaged in a telemarketing scheme to obtain beneficiary identifying and medical information by using telemarketers to contact Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries in the Eastern District of Washington and elsewhere. “Company A” allegedly used the information to create a fake medical record that reflected a doctor visit that never took place and medical orders for DME. Webster allegedly signed the fraudulent medical documentation and physician orders, which were then sold to DME companies that billed Medicare and TRICARE falsely and fraudulently. The charges allege that between May of 2021 and September of 2023, Medicare and TRICARE paid more than $13.7 million for DME fraudulently ordered and referred by Webster. These beneficiaries, which included many residents of the Eastern District of Washington, included individuals who had no desire or medical need for DME, individuals who had elected for hospice care and who, therefore, were not eligible to be treated for most types of illness or injury under Medicare, and individuals who lacked the limb for which the defendant placed the DME order because it had been previously amputated.