A Whitefish physician, Ronald David Dean, has been sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months of home confinement for defrauding Medicare and other federal health programs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the sentencing as part of a larger crackdown on healthcare fraud.

Dean, 64, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July. His case was included in the Justice Department's 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action. He was also fined $100,000 and ordered to pay $780,509 in restitution. After his confinement, Dean will be under one year of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided over the case. Dimitriana Nikolov from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General stated: “Submitting false claims for medical services that were not provided will not be tolerated.” She emphasized the dedication of VA OIG in investigating such fraudulent activities.

Douglas Williams from the Railroad Retirement Board highlighted the collaboration among federal agencies to combat this type of crime: “Our office will continue to work alongside other federal agencies investigating crimes like this... We have an obligation to protect federal funds.”

The FBI’s Shohini Sinha remarked on the broader impact of healthcare fraud: “Every American pays for healthcare fraud... Ronald Dean put profit before patients.” This case is part of a coordinated nationwide effort against such fraudulent activities.

Court documents revealed that Dean signed orders for unnecessary durable medical equipment and telemedicine visits that never occurred, billing Medicare and other programs over $31 million with payments totaling nearly $14 million.

Dean used information from unverified sources to prescribe braces without proper evaluation or communication with beneficiaries. Additionally, he authorized indiscriminate covid testing through a telemedicine company which billed Medicare extensively.

This case is one among many during a two-week law enforcement operation targeting healthcare fraud and opioid abuse schemes involving 193 defendants accused of submitting over $2.75 billion in false billings.

The investigation involved multiple agencies including HHS-OIG, VA-OIG, RRB-OIG, and FBI under the coordination of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana and the Department’s Criminal Division.