MIAMI – Two Miami healthcare providers were sentenced Thursday for their roles in a $31 million Medicare fraud scheme, prosecutors say.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Dean Zusmer, 54, was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison and ordered to pay $1,404,200.97 in restitution. Dr. Lawrence Alexander, 45, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
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Prosecutors said the scheme involved submitting claims for costly durable medical equipment (DME) that was not needed by the beneficiaries.
According to court documents, Zusmer was a chiropractor who conspired with others to steal millions of dollars from Medicare.
Zusmer owned one of four durable DME companies that collectively billed Medicare over $31 million for medically unnecessary equipment, “of which over $15 million was paid,” prosecutors said.
Zusmer “acquired patient referrals and signed doctors’ orders by paying kickbacks to marketers who used overseas call centers to solicit patients and telemedicine companies to procure prescriptions for unnecessary braces for these patients,” according to a press release by the DOJ.
Alexander was an orthopedic surgeon who owned one of the DME companies with a co-conspirator Jeremy Waxman.
According to the DOJ, Alexander concealed both his and Waxman’s roles in the scheme by putting the DME company in the name of one of Alexander’s family members.
Waxman had previously pled guilty for his role in the scheme and was sentenced to over 15 years in prison, according to court records.
Alexander and other co-conspirators, including Waxman, “acquired patient referrals and signed doctors’ orders by paying kickbacks to marketers who used overseas call centers to solicit patients and telemedicine companies to procure prescriptions for unnecessary braces for these patients,” according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors said Zusmer was convicted after trial of multiple healthcare fraud-related offenses and for making a false statement relating to healthcare matters in January. Alexander was convicted of making a false statement relating to healthcare matters.