{"id":55983,"date":"2024-04-12T19:50:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T02:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55983"},"modified":"2024-04-12T19:50:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T02:50:12","slug":"two-doctors-sentenced-for-4m-fraudulent-urine-drug-testing-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55983","title":{"rendered":"Two Doctors Sentenced for $4M Fraudulent Urine Drug Testing Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The owner and the medical director of a Kentucky pain clinic were sentenced this week for their respective roles in a scheme that defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance companies of over $4 million for medically unnecessary urine drug testing, officials announced Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. William Lawrence Siefert, 70, of Dayton, Ohio, the clinic\u2019s medical director, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and ordered to pay $1,968,763.10 million in restitution. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Timothy Ehn, 51, of Union, Kentucky, the clinic owner and a licensed chiropractor, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison and ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department\u2019s Criminal Division, said: \u201cThe Criminal Division is committed to protecting American taxpayers from doctors who abuse their positions to steal public money by billing for unnecessary medical procedures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ehn and Siefert orchestrated a scheme in which clinic staff billed for urine drug tests that were not medically necessary but were lucratively reimbursed by taxpayer-funded insurance providers like Medicare and Medicaid. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ehn and Siefert continued in their scheme even as their expensive drug testing machine malfunctioned because it was not properly maintained, which caused the machine to produce results that falsely suggested patients were testing positive for street drugs like ecstasy or heroin. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Insurance proceeds from urine drug testing comprised three-quarters of the clinic\u2019s revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare providers who cause the submission of Medicare and Medicaid claims for medically unnecessary services pose a significant risk to these programs and the patients who rely on them,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). \u201cThese sentences exemplify how HHS-OIG works diligently with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable individuals who, to satisfy their own greed, exploit federal health care programs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough zealous collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we\u2019re holding these defendants accountable,\u201d said Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman. \u201cI\u2019m especially proud of Detective Supervisor Mike McGuffey and the entire Attorney General\u2019s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse team for investigating these crimes and delivering justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 23, 2023, a federal jury convicted Siefert of healthcare fraud and Ehn of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

The case was investigated by the FBI, DEA, HHS-OIG, and Kentucky Medicaid and Abuse Control Unit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trial Attorneys Dermot Lynch, Lindsey Carson, and Assistant Chief Lauren Kootman of the Criminal Division\u2019s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division\u2019s efforts to combat healthcare fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal healthcare programs and private insurers more than $27 billion. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in healthcare fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov\/criminal-fraud\/health-care-fraud-unit<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The owner and the medical director of a Kentucky pain clinic were sentenced this week for their respective roles in a scheme that defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance companies of over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dea","category-fbi","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Doctors Sentenced for $4M Fraudulent Urine Drug Testing Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The owner and the medical director of a Kentucky pain clinic were sentenced this week for their respective roles in a scheme that defrauded Medicare,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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