WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday announced criminal charges against 455 people as part of a two-week healthcare fraud crackdown that officials say involved more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers.Among those charged is a nurse practitioner accused in Texas of billing Medicaid for medically unnecessary wound-care procedures and using the proceeds for fancy jewelry and luxury cars; a mental health company owner who prosecutors say exploited the homeless by billing for crisis stabilization services they did not need; and a hospice owner alleged to have paid kickbacks to a funeral home employee for information about Medicare beneficiaries.A heart doctor is charged in Florida in an $89 million healthcare fraud scheme, accused of billing insurers for medically unnecessary cardiovascular screening tests for college student-athletes and then rubber-stamping the results as normal without reviewing them.
Jason Finkelstein, 53, faces charges in Florida of healthcare fraud and conspiracy in what prosecutors describe as a yearslong scheme that preyed on the fears of athletes that they could die on playing fields or courts of sudden cardiac arrest.
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