The Justice Department charged a lab’s former owner with paying kickbacks and bribes for unnecessary genetic cancer screening referrals, allegedly bilking Medicare out of $53 million.
Daniel Hurt, who owned labs in Texas, Florida and California, allegedly submitted 350,000 fraudulent claims to Medicare from January 2019 to October 2021. Hurt, who allegedly received at least $26.9 million of the $53.3 million in Medicare reimbursement, hid the payments in sham marketing contracts, authorities claimed.
Hurt also faces fraud charges in pending cases in Pennsylvania and Florida federal courts.
Medicare made $25.7 billion in improper payments in 2020, according to a 2021 Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General report. Authorities have been cracking down on teleheatlh and genetic testing schemes, charging 36 people in July who allegedly orchestrated telehealth fraud.