ATLANTA – John W. Oxendine has been arraigned on federal rates of conspiracy to commit well being care fraud and conspiracy to commit income laundering. Oxendine was indicted by a federal grand jury on May perhaps 17, 2022.
The indictment alleges that Oxendine conspired to receive kickbacks for needless genetic and toxicology lab exams, and employed his coverage business to hide all those kickbacks,” said U.S. Lawyer Ryan K. Buchanan. “Patients go to their health care service provider for procedure with the expectation that their therapy or take a look at is required, not a scam for fraud.”
“These allegations describe a person who was a lot more motivated by personal greed than their duty to supply correct and important care to clients,” mentioned Keri Farley, Unique Agent in Cost of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI, along with our partners, will continue on to investigate healthcare fraud to assure these folks who willingly defraud the American people today are brought to justice.”
“Providers who exploit their positions as overall health care gurus for economic gain undermine individual believe in and squander taxpayer bucks,” mentioned Distinctive Agent in Cost Tamala E. Miles, with the Section of Health and Human Solutions, Business office of Inspector Normal (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue on to get the job done tirelessly together with our law enforcement partners to look into any negative actors who endeavor to defraud federal wellness treatment packages.”
“Health treatment suppliers who engage in kickback schemes to maximize gains violate the integrity of the Office of Defense overall health treatment program and betray the believe in of their individuals,” said Specific Agent in Demand Cynthia A. Bruce, Section of Defense (DoD) Workplace of Inspector Common, Protection Legal Investigative Support (DCIS), Southeast Area Office environment. “Trusted healthcare industry experts whose greed overcomes their moral obligations to those searching for healthcare treatment have no area in the DoD health care community and will be aggressively pursued for prosecution.”
According to U.S. Lawyer Buchanan, the rates, and other information and facts introduced in court docket: John W. Oxendine allegedly conspired with Dr. Jeffrey Gallups and others to submit fraudulent coverage statements for medically avoidable Pharmacogenetic, Molecular Genetic, and Toxicology screening. Physicians connected with Jeffrey Gallups’s ENT practice were being pressured to order medically unneeded Pharmacogenetic, Molecular Genetic, and Toxicology screening from a testing lab in Texas. As aspect of the well being treatment fraud plan, the lab business agreed to pay out Oxendine and Gallups a kickback of 50% of the web earnings for qualified specimens submitted by Gallups’s practice to the lab corporation for the screening.
In overall, the lab company submitted statements in search of in excess of $2,500,000 in payment for laboratory assessments requested by Gallups’s observe. The insurance coverage corporations paid over $600,000 to the lab organization as a end result of these statements. The lab organization then compensated $260,000 in kickbacks by way of Oxendine’s coverage products and services business enterprise. Oxendine made use of a part of the kickback revenue to shell out debts on behalf of Gallups, paying out a $150,000 charitable contribution and $70,000 in attorney’s costs.
This case is related to United States v. Gallups, 1:21-cr-00370-SCJ, in which Dr. Jeffrey Gallups pleaded responsible to well being care fraud.
John W. Oxendine, 60, of Duluth, Ga was indicted on May possibly 17, 2022. Members of the general public are reminded that the indictment only consists of charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to verify the defendant’s guilt further than a realistic doubt at trial.
This situation is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of Health and Human Companies Office of the Inspector Normal, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Services.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complicated Frauds Portion, is prosecuting the situation.
For further facts remember to call the U.S. Attorney’s Community Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Online handle for the U.S. Attorney’s Business for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/previous-georgia-insurance plan-commissioner-john-oxendine-billed-well being-treatment-fraud-and-income