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A federal jury in Miami founded guilty a Florida nurse specialist of health-care conspiracy and other charges for playing an essential function in a plan that tricked numerous countless dollars from Medicare.
Elizabeth Hernandez, 45, fraudulently billed Medicare for more than $200 million in orthotic braces and hereditary tests that were clinically unneeded, according to the Department of Justice.
Medicare is the federal program that supplies health protection to mostly older Americans.
Hernandez, who was condemned Thursday by jurors after a trial that lasted a number of days, took part in a broad plan in which telemarketing business would call Medicare clients to convince them to demand unneeded braces and tests, the DOJ stated.
These business then sent out pre-filled orders to Hernandez, who signed them, testifying that she had actually taken a look at or dealt with the clients although she had actually never ever talked with a lot of them, district attorneys stated.
Hernandez regularly billed Medicare for more than 24 hours of supposed “office visits” in a single day, the DOJ stated.
And, “In 2020, Hernandez ordered more cancer genetic tests for Medicare beneficiaries than any other provider in the nation, including oncologists and geneticists,” the department stated.
She personally stole $1.6 million in taken cash which she utilized to purchase costly vehicles, precious jewelry, house restorations and journeys, the district attorneys stated.
One of Hernandez’s co-conspirators, Michael Stein, pleaded guilty in April to one count of defrauding the United States by paying and getting kickbacks. Stein was sentenced to 5 years in jail in June.
Stein ran 2 business, 1523 Holdings and Growthlogix, that paid health-care suppliers kickbacks and kickbacks to buy hereditary tests that were clinically unneeded.
Hernandez is set up to be sentencedDec 14. She deals with an optimum possible sentence of 20 years in jail on the leading count of conspiracy to dedicate healthcare scams, with lower optimums for healthcare scams and making incorrect declarations.
An attorney for Hernandez did not right away react to an ask for remark.
