300 charged, scams alleged

Health care fraud sweeps across the country have led to charges against 300 people including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and home health care providers accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid, the government announced Wednesday.

The sweep spread from Southern California to southern Florida and Houston to Brooklyn, with arrests being made over three days.

In all, the allegedly fraudulent billings totaled $900 million, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, calling it the largest national Medicare fraud dragnet.

The defendants billed for care and prescriptions that were not necessary and services that were not rendered, Lynch said.

Among those charged, for example, was a group that controlled a network of clinics in Brooklyn that received $38 million from Medicare and Medicaid after providing patients unnecessary treatment. A Detroit clinic billed Medicare for more than $36 million, even though Lynch said it was actually a front for a narcotics diversion scheme.

Chronicle News Services