MISSOULA, Montana—A Whitefish, Montana, doctor was sentenced to six months in prison, six months of home confinement and one year of supervised released after admitting to defrauding Medicare and other federal government health programs through a telemedicine conspiracy, which resulted in more than $31 million in false billing. Additionally, the doctor has been fined $100,000 and ordered to pay more than $780,509 in restitution.
Licensed Physician Ronald David Dean pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The conspiracy ran from approximately January 2022 until July 2023.
According to court documents, the government alleged that Dean was paid by a telemedicine company to sign orders for durable medical equipment that patients did not need. Dean then fraudulently charged Medicare, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) and the Railroad Retirement Board programs for telemedicine office visits that did not occur. Additionally, the telemedicine company used Dean’s information to prescribe unneeded and unnecessary COVID-19 tests to patients. Based on orders Dean signed, the total amount billed to Medicare, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Railroad Retirement Board was $31,432,001, and the total amount paid from those programs was $13,785,724.
“Every American pays for health care fraud, potentially through higher health insurance premiums, exposure to unnecessary medical procedures and increased taxes” said Shohini Sinha, special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City FBI. “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.”
As part of the fraud scheme, Dean relied on information provided by people he did not know—who had an unknown amount of training or experience—to prescribe braces for beneficiaries he did not see or evaluate. According to court documents, Dean frequently did not talk to the beneficiaries, and when he did, it was often to tell them the braces were approved. Additionally, Dean was unaware if the beneficiaries who received braces needed them. Regarding the COVID-19 tests, Dean provided blanket authorization for the telemedicine companies to send out tests to anyone and bill Medicare for as many COVID-19 tests as the company desired.
“Submitting false claims for medical services that were not provided will not be tolerated,” said Dimitriana Nikolov, special agent in charge with the VA and Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Northwest field office. “(This) 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.”
