A former psychiatrist from New Hampshire was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison. He was sent to prison because he approved unnecessary medical equipment orders without even examining and diagnosing patients.
Powell pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud in May 2023. According to the Justice Department's earlier announcement, he received kickbacks in exchange for signing orders authorizing medically unnecessary durable medical equipment.
Steven Powell, 56, was sentenced to prison in connection with medicare fraud. Powell lives in Georgia and was sentenced by US District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro on 13 October.
According to the documents and statements that were presented in court, Powell signed many unnecessary orders for durable medical equipment without even speaking to or examining the patients.
The Durable Medical Equipment included knee, wrist, back, and shoulder braces.
Powell did not order this equipment for his patients; instead, he never examined, spoke with, or evaluated the patients' health or Medicare eligibility.
Powell approved a large number of these devices, such as pre-populated braces, in a short time period, which made it difficult for others in the facility to evaluate the medical necessity and number of orders.
Through these orders, DME suppliers submitted roughly 1,400 fraudulent Medicare claims exceeding $1.9 million, resulting in Medicare paying out $761,202.75.
According to the reports, Powell signed brace orders for more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries, and he often ordered multiple pieces of equipment per patient. In one instance, he completed over 100 pages and provided 75 signatures in just over a minute, clearly proving that no legitimate medical assessment took place.
Erin Creegan, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, said, “This defendant abused his position and his medical license in order to defraud taxpayers with nearly $2 million in bogus medical bills, and will now spend time behind bars.”
Erin said, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to pursue accountability for those who commit fraud and steal from the taxpayers, and strict penalties for those who siphon precious healthcare resources meant to help elderly and low-income patients.”
In addition to his prison sentence, Powell was ordered to pay $761,202.75 in restitution to the Medicare program.
Ted E. Docks, who is the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said that Dr. Steven Powell completely cast aside professional ethics by generating nearly $2 million in fraudulent Medicare billing through fake medical equipment prescriptions. Docks emphasized that by siphoning these funds, Powell burdened the healthcare system and defrauded the taxpayers supporting it.
“By looting these funds, this physician not only strained the system, but cheated the taxpayers who fund it. Know that your FBI is committed to fighting health care fraud, one case at a time, because every dollar lost to bogus billing is a dollar less to use for legitimate treatments and services,” he said.
The FBI and the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, led the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by US Attorney John Kennedy.
(Rh/ARC/MSM)
