Federal prosecutors charge 15 in alleged health fraud schemes

Federal prosecutors charged 15 people in alleged healthcare-fraud schemes involving substance-abuse treatment, Medicare procedures and hospice billing, the Justice Department said Thursday, October 22. The cases involved claims submitted to private insurers and government healthcare programs. The alleged conduct and amounts are accusations, not established findings of guilt. The largest case centers on David Young and his son, Nathan Young, who prosecutors say directed a multiyear operation that billed private insurers more than $1.6 billion for sham substance-abuse treatment. Prosecutors allege the pair and other defendants recruited vulnerable people, including homeless people and people with substance-use problems, and moved them among treatment facilities to generate insurance claims. The Youngs and other defendants are accused of using recruiters known as body brokers and targeting patients whose insurance offered high reimbursements. A separate case involves cardiothoracic surgeon Harold Tabaie and chiropractor Hany Malek. Prosecutors allege they billed Medicare about $134 million to $135 million for atherectomy procedures that patients did not need. The procedures use...