8/8/2019 Breuer - ATC Press Conference - 10-21-10
1/2
REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR
THE CRIMINAL DIVISION LANNY A. BREUER AT THE
AMERICAN THERAPEUTIC CORPORATION PRESS CONFERENCE
MIAMI, FLORIDA
OCTOBER 21, 2010
Good morning. And thank you, Willy, for that introduction and
for yourcontinued support for our joint efforts to fight Medicare
fraud in South Florida.
Today we are announcing the latest efforts by the Health Care
Fraud Preventionand Enforcement Action Team or HEAT to combat
Medicare fraud. Four individualswere arrested this morning for
their alleged roles in an unprecedented scheme to defraudthe
Medicare program of tens of millions of dollars. These individuals
are the ownersand senior managers of American Therapeutic
Corporation, or ATC, and MedlinkProfessional Management Group, Inc.
two businesses that were used to perpetrate thefraud scheme. Along
with the four individuals, ATC and Medlink have been charged in
a
13-count indictment that was unsealed today in U.S. District
Court here in Miami.
Todays charges mark the first time that HEATs Medicare Fraud
Strike Force hasindicted a corporate entity for Medicare fraud.
Indeed, as described in the indictment, thedefrauding of Medicare
was the business model for ATC and Medlink. From its sevenlocations
throughout the Miami area, ATC, together with the other charged
defendants,allegedly submitted to Medicare close to $200 million in
billing much, if not all, ofwhich was fraudulent. This represents
the largest fraudulent billing scheme everprosecuted by the Strike
Force. Criminal forfeiture charges have also been unsealedtoday
against ATC and many of the other defendants charges that will
allow us to seekto recover all of the money they allegedly stole
from Medicare.
The details of the fraud scheme, as set out in the indictment,
are striking. Sadly,weve seen far too many individuals bill
Medicare for medical equipment and servicesthat were either
unnecessary or never provided. But the alleged illegal conduct
chargedin this indictment is, in many respects, unlike anything
weve seen before in terms of thenature and size of the scheme. As
alleged in the indictment, ATC and the otherdefendants preyed on
some of the most vulnerable patients, paying kickbacks to ownersand
operators of assisted living facilities and halfway houses in
exchange for patientreferrals to ATC. At ATC locations, bogus
mental health therapy sessions wereorganized, where elderly and
infirm patients were left in rooms for hours, with nolegitimate or
medically necessary therapy being performed. Some of the
patientssuffered from Alzheimers disease, or dementia, and were not
even cognizant of wherethey were. Other patients were simply there
to make money, through kickbacks. Theindictment alleges that the
defendants then fraudulently billed Medicare, falsely claimingthe
patients were part of a legitimate partial hospitalization program
and receivingintensive mental health treatment.
Several of the defendants are also charged with holding
so-called chartingparties, where senior managers of ATC met
routinely to falsify patient medical charts.
8/8/2019 Breuer - ATC Press Conference - 10-21-10
2/2
Medication types, medication levels, and patient diagnoses were
fabricated all in analleged effort to make it look like patients
were receiving legitimate mental healthtreatment, when nothing
could be further from the truth.
Medicare fraud, whether in South Florida, Detroit, Brooklyn, or
elsewhere in the
country, simply wont be tolerated not by taxpayers, not by this
Administration, and notby our agents and prosecutors. When
criminals innovate and find new ways to cheat thesystem, Strike
Force investigators and prosecutors are there to find them and
prosecutethem. And in appropriate cases, if corporations are used
to carry out those schemes, wewill take action against them
too.
Our Strike Force operations are continuing to yield tremendous
results. Just threemonths ago, right here in Miami, Attorney
General Holder and Secretary Sebeliusannounced charges against 94
individuals throughout the country for Medicare fraud the largest
takedown by Strike Force operations to date. Since its inception in
2007,Strike Force operations have led to charges against more than
825 defendants who falsely
billed the Medicare program more than $2 billion.
And our partners in the Civil Division are employing critically
important civiltools to combat health care fraud in the United
States. Im delighted that Tony West, theAssistant Attorney General
of the Civil Division, could be here with us today to talkabout
those efforts and about the Civil Divisions important role in this
case. Ill nowturn it over to Tony.
###
