Tag: Braces
Two DME providers found not guilty
August 21, 2024HME News Staff
SAN ANTONIO – Kuba Zarobkiewicz and Anthony Fermin, owners of DME companies, were found not guilty this week of health care fraud, violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, and conspiracy charges by a federal jury.
Zarobkiewicz and Fermin ran brace businesses through multiple companies beginning in 2020 and then voluntarily shut them down in late 2021. They began cooperating with a law enforcement investigation in September 2022 and then were charged in December 2022 in the Western...
Florida man sentenced as part of $11M DME scheme
June 3, 2024HME News Staff
MIAMI – A Florida man has been sentenced to 96 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after admitting his role in a multimillion-dollar DME kickback scheme and pleading guilty to carrying out a COVID-19 fraud scheme and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Kareem Memon of Coral Springs, Fla., and his conspirators owned and operated marketing call centers and telemedicine...
Florida man pleads guilty of $3.6M scheme
March 5, 2024HME News Staff
TRENTON, N.J. – Steve Chicoye of Orlando, Fla., has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to U.S. Attorney’s District of New Jersey. According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Chicoye and his conspirators solicited and received kickbacks and bribes in exchange for providing DME companies with completed doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary DME, such as orthotic braces. Chicoye and his conspirators utilized...
OHD partners with manufacturers for ‘better results’
December 26, 2023HME News Staff
DUNEDIN, Fla. – One Health Direct, a marketer and patient engagement solution provider for DME, has announced it is partnering with manufacturers like Mobility Braces to help them design and provide products. OHD helped Mobility Braces develop a series of PDAC-approved orthotic bracing products, including back, wrist, ankle and knee braces, that address the unique needs of elderly patients. “Most DMEs provide the same brace for a young athletic patient as they would a geriatric patient,...
Market changes likely to drive increase in audit activity
December 1, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine – The end of Medicare’s competitive bidding program for knee and back braces on Dec. 31 could open the door to increased audit activity for orthotics in 2024, industry consultants predict.
“We’ve already seen the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC) add braces back onto their project list and the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) still has them on their approved list,” said Kelly Grahovac, general manager of the van Halem Group. “But...
Texas man pleads guilty in brace scheme
November 20, 2023HME News Staff
ATLANTA – A Texas man and owner of two DME companies has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in a scheme to pay illegal kickbacks, resulting in more than $20 million submitted in claims to and $11 million in payment from Medicare. According to the charges and other information presented in court, between about June 2016 and February 2019, Simon Orobor owned and operated Devotion Medical Supply and Durable Medical Supply, Inc., which provided durable medical equipment such as knee, back,...
Two plead guilty in brace scheme
November 14, 2023HME News Staff
ATLANTA – Brett Weiner and Valerie Desalvo have pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges for their role in buying and selling fake doctors’ orders used to obtain more than $1.5 million in fraudulent payments from Medicare, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Weiner and Desalvo owned and operated Laboratory Marketing Services, a business in Boca Raton, Fla., that, among other things, received kickback payments in exchange for patient...
Nurse charged with brace scheme
October 10, 2023HME News Staff
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...
Woman charged in $17.3M brace and CGM scheme
December 20, 2022HME News Staff
NEW YORK – Alexandra Stchaslivteseva, 52, of New York has been arrested for allegedly offering and paying illegal health care kickbacks and money laundering, resulting in Medicare paying more than $17.3 million in false claims. She allegedly offered and paid kickbacks and bribes to several purported telemedicine companies and marketing companies in exchange for completed doctor orders of medically unnecessary orthotic braces and continuous glucose monitors for Medicare beneficiaries. Stchastlivtseva...
Two sentenced for orthotics-related fraud
December 12, 2022HME News Staff
TAMPA and RALEIGH, N.C. – Ruth Bianca Fernandez has been sentenced to three years in prison for her role in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud and for making a false statement in a matter involving a federal health care benefit program. Government officials say Fernandez, who worked directly under Patsy Truglia, who has already been sentenced, and other conspirators generated medically unnecessary physician orders via their telemarketing operation for certain orthotic devices—knee...