A federal court has sentenced telemedicine-company owner Christopher Harwood to 20 years in prison for leading a $46.2 million Medicare fraud conspiracy built around medically unnecessary braces and genetic tests.
The October 23 sentence also requires Harwood to pay $17,942,402 in restitution to Medicare and forfeit $10,431,463. He pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud.
Harwood owned TelevisitMD and several Florida durable-medical-equipment suppliers. According to the admitted case record, telemarketers recruited Medicare beneficiaries and encouraged them to accept orthotic braces and genetic tests they did not need. Doctors were paid to approve orders without the medical relationships and meaningful patient interactions required for legitimate telemedicine.
Harwood then sold signed orders to equipment suppliers, laboratories and marketers while using his own supply companies to submit claims. Prosecutors attributed $46.2 million in false claims to the scheme, of which Medicare paid $17.9 million. They said Harwood personally obtained more than $10.4 million.
The prison term is a final district-court sentence, subject to the ordinary right of appeal. Restitution addresses Medicare’s loss; forfeiture targets proceeds attributed to the offence. The two amounts serve different legal purposes and are not interchangeable measures of the fraud.
