马里兰州实验室老板医保诈骗被定罪：向联邦医保虚报1870万美元呼吸道检测费
美国司法部10月20日发布，马里兰州联邦陪审团前一日裁定实验室老板 Patrick Britton-Harr（42岁，Annapolis 人）医疗保健诈骗等罪名成立。检方指控，他旗下的 Provista Health 在新冠疫情期间向养老院提供新冠筛查服务，却向联邦医保（Medicare）虚报超过1,870万美元的昂贵呼吸道病原体检测费用；这些检测大多没有医疗必要、未经主治医生下单，其中许多根本没有实施。
陪审团裁定 Britton-Harr 五项医疗保健诈骗罪与一项交易性洗钱罪成立。庭审证据显示，其他实验室完成新冠检测后，Britton-Harr 通过 Provista Health 就所谓的呼吸道病原体组合（RPP）检测向医保另行收费，声称检测在他在亚利桑那州的一家实验室进行；六个月内共虚报1,870万美元，医保实付逾720万美元。他指使包括家人在内的缺乏经验员工、乃至学生实习生逐单收费；该亚利桑那实验室关闭、设备已不存在后收费仍在继续，甚至包括为已经去世的居民收费。检方称，他将诈骗所得用于奢华生活，包括购买一辆价值112,500美元的 Porsche 911，并为位于 Annapolis 的滨水豪宅每月支付25,000美元房贷。
Britton-Harr 每项罪名最高可判10年监禁，量刑听证日期尚未排定，联邦地区法官将结合联邦量刑指南等因素裁定刑期。此案由卫生与公众服务部监察长办公室（HHS-OIG）与联邦调查局（FBI）调查，马里兰州联邦检察官 Kelly O. Hayes 与 FBI Baltimore 分局负责人 Jimmy Paul 均表示将持续追查盗取纳税人资金的医保诈骗。
Maryland Lab Owner Convicted in $18.7M Medicare Fraud: Respiratory Testing Scheme Targeted Nursing Homes
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on October 20 that a federal jury in Maryland had convicted laboratory owner Patrick Britton-Harr the day before. Prosecutors said his company, Provista Health, offered COVID-19 screening to nursing homes during the pandemic but fraudulently billed Medicare more than $18.7 million for expensive respiratory pathogen tests that residents did not need, physicians did not order, and, in many cases, were never performed.
The jury convicted Britton-Harr of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering. Prosecutors said he used the proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a $112,500 Porsche 911 and $25,000 monthly mortgage payments on his Annapolis waterfront mansion.
Britton-Harr faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, and a federal district judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the FBI. U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland and FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul said their offices remain committed to rooting out fraud against taxpayers.
Trial evidence showed that after other laboratories performed the COVID tests, Britton-Harr billed Medicare separately through Provista Health for so-called respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests he claimed were run at his Arizona laboratory; over six months he billed $18.7 million, of which Medicare paid more than $7.2 million. He directed inexperienced employees, including family members and student interns, to bill test by test, and billing continued even after the Arizona lab had closed and its equipment was gone, including charges for residents who had already died. Britton-Harr is 42 and from Annapolis.
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：联邦调查局总部大楼（资料图，本案由 FBI 与卫生与公众服务部监察长办公室调查）/ FBI headquarters building (file photo; the FBI investigated this case with HHS-OIG). Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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