Stop Durable Medical Equipment Fraud

Atlanta DME Fraud Lawyer, 25+ Years of Proven Whistleblower Advocacy

Do you know about Medicare fraud by a durable medical equipment provider? Durable Medical Equipment (DME) fraud is rampant. By being the relator (whistleblower) in a qui tam suit under the False Claims Act, you can stop the fraud and be rewarded for doing the right thing.

In fiscal year 2010, Medicare spent $8.1 billion on durable medical equipment such as:

  • Wheelchairs
  • Pressure pads and mattresses
  • Hospital beds
  • Bird Respirators (IPPB machines)
  • Canes
  • Digital electronic pacemaker monitors
  • Prosthetic (artificial) limbs

All too many of these claims are fraudulent, submitted by unscrupulous DME providers.

Contact national whistleblower attorney Lee Wallace to find out whether you are entitled to get a percentage of the money recovered by Medicare or Medicaid. Lee puts her Harvard Law degree and 20 years of legal experience to work for people like you who blow the whistle on fraud.

We can review your DME fraud whistleblower case for FREE.

Why Is Fraud Happening in the DME Sector?

DME providers are less regulated than almost any other segment of the medical field. Often the items provided are big-ticket items, so the fraud can be lucrative.

If you have information about a durable medical equipment provider that is using the lack of regulation to rip off the Government, call a nationwide qui tam lawyer at The Wallace Law Firm, LLC. Our lead attorney, Lee Wallace, is a past President of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, and helped write the ethics code that is used by the Georgia Bar.

Fraud Involving Power Wheelchairs

Medicare and Medicaid are especially concerned about power wheelchair fraud. The chairs are very expensive; Medicare pays up to $5000-$6000 for one year of rental for a power wheelchair. According to a power wheelchair fraud report by Health and Human Services, Medicare spent $95 million in just the first half of 2007, on power wheelchairs that were not medically necessary or where the provider had not submitted sufficient documentation to justify the chair. According to HHS, “80% of claims for power wheelchairs did not meet Medicare’s coverage requirements and should not have been paid by Medicare.”

How Does the Fraud Happen?

  • Equipment that was never provided. Sometimes the DME company steals patients’ Medicare numbers and submits claims for equipment the patients never needed and never got. In February 2013, three people pled guilty to cheating Medicare and Medicaid out of more than $11 million by billing for wheelchairs, medical incontinence supplies, hospital beds and mattresses that had not been prescribed and were never delivered. The trio of Texans had hired marketers to con elderly people out of their Medicare numbers, and then used those numbers to submit fake bills.
  • Providing inferior medical equipment. In a 2009 case, also in Texas, a DME owner pled guilty to billing Medicare for unnecessary orthotic items. He also billed for inferior arthritis kits that had ill-fitting sleeves made of cheap material. Medicare was paying for a more durable product, but the company was cutting corners by providing a cheaper piece of medical equipment instead.
  • Billing for items that are not medically necessary. DME providers sometimes submit claims for medical equipment that they know the patient does not need. In some cases, a doctor has assisted the DME with the fraud. For example, a Los Angeles, California doctor is facing prison and a hefty fine after admitting that he accepted kickbacks from a DME company that provided power wheelchairs. He created false medical records, recording “symptoms” that did not exist or were exaggerated, in order to “justify” the power wheelchairs.

In other situations, the durable medical equipment provider acted without help from any physician or without the knowledge of the physician.

If you know about a DME that is billing Medicare or Medicaid for equipment that it is not supplying, it is important that you help stop the fraud by reporting it. Attorney Lee Wallace at The Wallace Law Firm, LLC has helped whistleblowers recover millions of dollars taken from the Government by fraud.

Only the first person to report the fraud can get a percentage of what the Government gets.

We Take Cases on a Contingency Fee Basis

Lee Wallace represents whistleblowers on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not pay her an attorney’s fee unless you actually recover money from your False Claims Act qui tam case. This means that you have nothing to lose when you entrust your case to our firm.

Learn more about DME fraud below:

Contact our law firm now at (404) 550-4615.