Maryland man guilty in $18 million Medicare fraud case involving nursing homes during COVID-19 pandemic
A Maryland man has been convicted by a federal jury of fraudulently billing Medicare for expensive respiratory tests for nursing home patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The man found guilty was 42-year-old Patrick Britton-Harr of Annapolis, said a news release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Britton-Harr provided COVID-19 testing kits to nursing homes across the country during the pandemic, court documents and evidence presented at trial showed, according to the DOJ.
But in addition to the COVID-19 specimens collected and billed to Medicare, Britton-Harr also requested reimbursement "for separate, high-priced respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests purportedly conducted in a laboratory he owned in Arizona," the release said. The RPP tests are designed to screen for over 30 respiratory pathogens.
The defendant falsely claimed to Medicare that physicians who treated patients ordered the RPP tests. But in reality, the physicians never ordered the tests for their nursing home patients, and several testified at trial that they had never ordered an RPP test for any patient during their entire medical careers, the DOJ said.
As a result, Britton-Harr's company, Provista Health, "fraudulently billed Medicare $18.7 million for RPP testing purportedly performed in just six months, of which Medicare paid more than $7.2 million," the release noted.
"Mr. Britton-Harr's decision to exploit elderly nursing‑home residents and inexperienced interns for personal gain during a global pandemic is unconscionable," said a statement by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland. "This verdict reinforces our message: there is nowhere to hide for those who commit fraud. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
The fraud scheme involving Britton-Harr permitted him to "fund a lavish lifestyle," which, among other things, included him buying a $112,500 Porsche 911 and making $25,000 monthly mortgage payments on a waterfront mansion in Annapolis, the DOJ said.
