Will I Go to Jail If Charged with Medicare Fraud?
Medicare fraud is generally defined as submitting false claims to any federal government healthcare program to obtain an unlawful payment.
It is a serious federal crime with criminal and civil penalties. It includes more than just the federal Medicare program, such as Medicaid and federal workers' compensation.
If you are under a criminal investigation for Medicare fraud, it means you are suspected of violating at least one federal statute, including:
- False Claims Act,
- Stark Law,
- Anti-Kickback Statute.
California healthcare providers are common targets of Medicare Fraud Strike Force prosecutions because of the huge number of federal healthcare program recipients. Their primary responsibility is to monitor, investigate, and prosecute Medicare fraud cases.
They are an investigative body of the federal government that employs prosecutors and experienced investigators from numerous federal law enforcement agencies.
This includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Inspector General, and others.
Common Reasons for Medicare Fraud Investigations
One of the most common reasons for initiating a Medicare fraud investigation in California is the billing of services.
Typically, it will start after the federal government is notified about billing errors that are potentially a fraudulent billing practice and requests for reimbursements. Specifically, these include excessive, unauthorized, excessive, or just false charges, which are normally a result of billing for:
- double billing,
- inflating charges and upcoding,
- unnecessary services,
- services that were never actually provided,
- medically unnecessary supplies,
- equipment or services that were never requested,
- certifying medically unnecessary supplies or services,
- providing or accepting kickbacks
The most common targets of a Medicare fraud investigation in California are:
- healthcare professionals,
- executives,
- doctors,
- nurses,
- nursing homes,
- hospitals,
- pharmacies,
- hospice care,
- clinics,
- DME providers,
- cancer treatment centers.
It should be noted, however, that any facility to which a federal healthcare program submits claims for reimbursement can be the target of a Medicare fraud investigation.
Civil and Criminal Penalties for Medicare Fraud
Medicare fraud investigations include civil and criminal penalties. You or your business could face severe civil penalties, such as Triple damages, fines of up to $11,000 per false claim, lawyer fees, recoupment, and being excluded from making future federal healthcare program claims.
The criminal penalties for Medicare fraud in California include:
- ten years in federal prison for each count,
- 20 years if the Medicare fraud resulted in serious bodily injury, and
- a life sentence if it caused a patient's death.
Further, there are massive fines, and you will most likely face state disciplinary actions, such as losing a professional license and hospital privileges.
Why You Need Experienced Criminal Defense
A conviction for Medicare fraud in California will result in severe consequences, which is why you need to retain an experienced criminal lawyer. An experienced criminal lawyer will give you a much better chance at a favorable outcome.
Medicare fraud is a very common crime nowadays and can raise itself in many ways.
For example, somebody could be an employee at a doctor's office, and that doctor's office could be cheating the government out of healthcare money. That employee could end up getting twisted up in it because they work for a boss.
Also, doctors can get twisted up when they're involved in committing Medicare fraud, and the list goes on and on.
If you're being investigated for Medicare fraud or your business is being studied, you've come to the right place. I have been handling these cases since their inception.
I've been a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney since the early 1990s, defending Medicare fraud types of offenses. And nowadays, depending on the:
- amount of money involved,
- who's involved,
- what agency,
- the amount of loss that's involved,
- whether it's a huge amount,
- the amount of sophistication.
These factors will dictate whether the federal government prosecutes the case or whether the state government prosecutes the case.
Fortunately, you've landed on a website where I'm familiar with defending state and federal crimes.
I know what it takes to defend these types of cases, and sometimes, people get swept up in the huge net of a multi-million-dollar scam involving Medicare fraud.
Maybe they're either not as involved as other people or not involved at all — perhaps they're being used by the main culprits. Or, maybe they're the doctor, the office manager.
There's a host of different parts of these Medicare fraud scams, and if you're charged with or being investigated for one of these types of cases, you need a defense attorney immediately.
Developing a Defense Strategy for Medicare Fraud
Could you pick up the phone and request a meeting with Ron Hedding? When we sit down, we will discuss exactly what it will take to get you the best result. First, we have to decide whether it's a case that you can defend or if you'll have to accept some sort of culpability.
Once we have that decision made, we have to set our goals for the case—our goals for your future—as they realistically relate to what you're charged with, what you did, how much loss you were involved with, how many victims were involved, and the list goes on and on.
I'm prepared to help you. I've handled thousands of these types of offenses to a successful result. If you're charged with Medicare fraud in Los Angeles, California, you must develop a game plan.
You can't just twist in the wind, bury your head in the sand, and hope for the best. You can't rely on somebody else to get you what you need as far as a result goes. When there are a lot of potential targets and defendants in these cases, they'll do what it takes to help themselves; you need to do the same.
Hire a great attorney and give them all of the information. Please don't leave out facts you don't want them to hear. Tell them everything so they can give you a realistic idea of what you're facing, what you can do to help yourself, and what you can do to help them. I'm prepared to help you. You need to take the first step, make the phone call, and set up a meeting.