U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal | U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal | U.S. Department of Justice
Two Iowa healthcare practitioners have settled allegations of violating the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare in a telemedicine scheme. Nurse practitioner Cori Lempiainen agreed to pay $150,000 for billing Medicare for over 650 office visits and medical discussions she did not provide, as well as signing more than 2,700 orders for unnecessary durable medical equipment. Dr. Paul Baumert agreed to pay $14,325.96 for similar actions involving over 200 claims and more than 180 orders.
Both practitioners were involved in a telemedicine scheme where they placed orders based on recorded cold calls to Medicare beneficiaries about common aches and pains. Neither had direct contact with the beneficiaries, who reported receiving unwanted braces.
"Telemedicine schemes like these rely on the willing participation of healthcare providers to defraud the Medicare program by signing orders for expensive and unnecessary medical braces and other equipment," stated Richard D. Westphal, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. "Our office will continue to aggressively pursue healthcare fraud in all forms."
The investigation was conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy C. Licht and Brian J. Keogh handling the cases.
The resolved claims are allegations only, with no determination of liability made.
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