DALLAS (AP) — The owner of a Texas medical service provider is among seven people indicted in a massive health care fraud scheme that allegedly bilked Medicare and Medicaid of nearly $375 million, authorities announced Tuesday.
The federal indictment accused Jacques Roy, a doctor who owned Medistat Group Associates in DeSoto, Texas, of leading a scheme that billed Medicare for home health services that were not medically necessary or were not done. Also indicted were Roy's office manager as well as five owners of home health agencies.
The indictment alleged that from January 2006 through November 2011, Roy or others certified more Medicare beneficiaries for home health services and had more patients than any other medical practice in the U.S.
Phone messages and emails left with Medistat were not immediately returned on Tuesday.
Roy, 54, and the other defendants, who have been taken into custody, were expected to appear Tuesday afternoon before a judge in Dallas federal court.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also announced the suspension of an additional 78 home health agencies associated with Roy based on credible allegations of fraud against them.
U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana said that Roy used the home health agencies as "his soldiers on the ground to go door to door to recruit Medicare beneficiaries."
Health care fraud is estimated to cost the government at least $60 billion a year, mainly in losses to Medicare and Medicaid.
Shares