On April 20, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against eighteen defendants for various alleged COVID-19 healthcare fraud schemes. Spanning nine federal districts and alleging that the defendants misappropriated almost US$500 billion in federal pandemic funds, these criminal prosecutions are the result of the "largest-ever" nationwide coordinated law enforcement effort targeting COVID-19 healthcare fraud.
Spearheading that effort was the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force established in May 2021 to combat fraud related to pandemic relief programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. But as these new charges demonstrate, DOJ is committed to using its full suite of enforcement options to root out all types of pandemic-related fraud, not just fraud related to federal economic relief programs.
One such example is last week's announcement that multiple defendants were charged with defrauding the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program. This program gave uninsured patients access to testing and treatment and reimbursed healthcare providers for treating uninsured patients. DOJ now alleges that certain defendants defrauded the program by submitting supposedly fraudulent claims on behalf of patients who were actually insured and by billing for services never rendered. In the case of one defendant in the Central District of California, the allegedly...
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