Family convicted in health care fraud conspiracy in three states

JACKSON, Tenn. — A family has been convicted of defrauding federal health care programs of millions of dollars by selling back braces and power wheelchairs to people who did not need them in three states, prosecutors said.

Sandra Bailey, her husband, Calvin, and son Bryan were found guilty in Jackson, Tenn., of charges including health care fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The Baileys told patients in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi that they could receive power wheelchairs and back braces at no cost, through Medicare. The Baileys falsified medical and financial records to make it appear as if patients were qualified, when they really did not need the equipment and weren’t indigent.

Prosecutors said the Baileys paid recruiters who found patients and gave kickbacks to a physician and nurse practitioner who ordered the equipment without examining the patients.

Patients testified that they never saw the doctor or nurse before the Baileys delivered the braces and wheelchairs. Patients also testified that they didn’t need and never used the power wheelchairs.

The Baileys caused more than $4 million in fraudulent billing, while receiving $1.2 million in salary and sales commissions. They worked at Jaspan Medical Systems, which has an office in Jackson.

Sandra Bailey and Bryan Bailey each face up to 20 years in prison. Calvin Bailey faces up to five years in prison.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.

“Dishonest criminals are using more creative and disturbing fraudulent schemes to victimize vulnerable citizens and the American taxpayers for their own selfish gain,” Michael Dunavant, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, said in a statement.