Yesterday, Michelle Turner was convicted conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to receive illegal kickbacks, as well as two counts of receiving illegal kickbacks. Turner, who is associated with the Family Healthcare durable medical equipment scam in Texas is 44 years old.
The four day trial against Turner follows the sentencing of four other individuals for this Medicare fraud scheme last week.
Prosecutors contended that Turner, who worked as a patient recruiter, setup a call center to cold call Medicare recipients, in an effort to promote arthritis kits provided by Family Healthcare.
According to court records, Family Healthcare was responsible for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment. Their company primarily dealt with what they billed as arthritis kits, which they prescribed to Medicare Patients and had a cost of over three thousand dollars.
However, these kits were typically not medically necessary and did not include equipment that was conducive to treating senior arthritis or other senior health issues. For example, their arthritis kits often included heat pads and orthotic braces for the body.
Family Healthcare was, allegedly, responsible for over a million dollars in Medicare fraud, providing kickbacks to a number of individuals who provided Medicare recipients they could provide their arthritis kits to.
Turner allegedly used teenagers in his call center to make the cold calls to Medicare recipients. Under federal law, unsolicited marketing calls to Medicare recipients is illegal. He faces over 25 years in prison, if his charges were run concurrent.
Turner is the fifth person associated with the Family Healthcar Durable Medical Equipment Scam to be convicted in Federal court.