On April 20, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it is pursuing criminal charges against 21 defendants in nine different federal districts in connection with the defendants’ alleged involvement in fraud schemes arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. DOJ claimed this alleged fraud resulted in a total of $149 million in false and fraudulent charges to federal programs and federally-funded pandemic assistance.

The alleged fraud schemes included:

• Collecting patients’ personal identifying information and fluid samples through COVID-19 tests and using the information and samples to submit false claims for unrelated, medically unnecessary tests or office visits that did not occur.
• Exploiting COVID-19 related policies that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented to increase access to telemedicine by billing for telemedicine sessions that did not occur and ordering unnecessary genetic testing in exchange for telemedicine patients.
• Misappropriating financial assistance intended for frontline medical providers from the Provider Relief Fund.
• Manufacturing and distributing fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.

At the same time, CMS’s Center for Program Integrity also announced that it has initiated 28 administrative actions against providers, asserting fraud, abuse, and waste schemes related to the provision of COVID-19 care and other allegedly opportunistic schemes.

These moves come nearly a year after the Attorney General created the COVID-19...

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