MISSOULA — A Whitefish physician who admitted to defrauding Medicare and other federal government health programs through a telemedicine conspiracy that resulted in more than $31 million in false billing was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months home confinement, and one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to a Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, Ronald David Dean, 64, of Whitefish, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Dean was fined $100,000 and ordered to pay $780,509 restitution.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided. The case was part of the Justice Department’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action.
“Every American pays for healthcare fraud, potentially through higher health insurance premiums, exposure to unnecessary medical procedures, and increased taxes” Special Agent in Charge Shohini Sinha of the Salt Lake City FBI said in a statement. “Ronald Dean put profit before patients. This case, along with the coordinated nationwide effort, reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to investigating fraud, protecting patients, and maintaining the integrity of government funded programs.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dean, a licensed physician, was paid by a telemedicine company to sign orders for durable medical equipment that patients did not need, and then fraudulently charged Medicare, CHAMPVA and the Railroad Retirement Board programs for telemedicine office visits that didn’t occur. CHAMPVA is the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The telemedicine company also used Dean’s information to prescribe unneeded and unnecessary Covid-19 tests to patients.
The conspiracy ran from January 2022 to July 2023. Dean billed $31,432,001 to Medicare, the VA and the Railroad Retirement Board, which collectively paid out $13,785,724.
The Daily Montanan reports as part of the scheme, Dean relied on information provided by people he did not know, with an unknown amount of training or experience, to prescribe braces for beneficiaries he did not see or evaluate himself. Dean frequently did not even talk to the beneficiaries, and when he did it was merely to tell them the braces were approved, according to the press release.
Dean had no idea if those people who received braces actually needed them. With the Covid tests, Dean provided blanket authorization for the telemedicine company to send out tests to anyone and bill Medicare for as many as the company desired.
“Submitting false claims for medical services that were not provided will not be tolerated,” Special Agent in Charge Dimitriana Nikolov with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northwest Field Office said in a statement. “Today’s sentencing is a testament to VA OIG’s dedication to investigating those who commit fraud and seek to benefit improperly from programs that are meant for deserving veterans.”
The case was part of a strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 193 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes that resulted in the submission of over $2.75 billion in alleged false billings. The government, in connection with the enforcement action, seized over $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold, and other assets.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana worked with the Department’s Criminal Division and the following law enforcement organizations to investigate and prosecute the case filed during the enforcement period: the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Railroad Retirement Board Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
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