Fox News reports that some of the claims the doctor submitted include unnecessary knee, wrist, and back braces used by companies to submit false Medicare claims worth more than $1.9 million.
Steven Powell, 53, pled guilty to one count of healthcare fraud. He will be set up to be sentenced on August 30.
Prosecutors argued that Powell electronically signed documents for unnecessary medical equipment for companies to bill Medicare for this equipment. They say that he received kickbacks from those companies for doing this.
May 27, 2023
According to prosecutors, Medicare paid the equipment providers more than $761,000 related to the false claims submitted by Dr. Powell. This information relates to the plea agreement in the federal court.
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The recommended sentence for this charge is for a little less than four years in jail and for Powell to pay back all of the illegitimate charges he submitted to Medicare. This is all based on reporting by Fox News based on the court documents they obtained in this case. It is something that has been worked out between Powell and those who are trying to make him pay for the crimes that he allegedly committed. The fact that he has decided to plead guilty in this case appears to indicate that he understood that the government had enough evidence for him to put together a compelling case.
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The fact remains that Dr. Powell admitted to illegally billing Medicare and that he should have to pay for what he did. Some may look at the less than four years in jail as a light sentence, but that, on top of having to pay it all back, is a measure of justice that can help take the burden off of some minds that Dr. Powell will face justice in this case.
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