A Missouri man, Jamie P. McNamara, 50, from Kansas City, was sentenced on October 23 to ten years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for cancer and cardiovascular genetic testing.
Court documents show that McNamara operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas. He used telemarketers and call centers to persuade Medicare beneficiaries to agree to genetic testing. The orders for these tests were signed by doctors who did not treat the patients, did not consult with them, and did not follow up after the tests were done. To secure these orders, McNamara paid illegal kickbacks and bribes through sham contracts.
McNamara also shifted billing between his laboratories to avoid detection by Medicare and law enforcement. He concealed his ownership of the labs by using family members’ names as owners and representatives on official documents. Over about eighteen months, the labs submitted more than $174 million in claims to Medicare and received over $55 million in reimbursements. Authorities seized several luxury vehicles from McNamara as well as over $7 million from bank accounts.
While awaiting trial, McNamara violated bond conditions by fleeing an unrelated arrest and removing an ankle monitor before being detained again. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana; Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office announced the sentencing.
The case was investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI.
Prosecution was led by Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
According to information provided by the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, since March 2007 its Health Care Fraud Strike Force program has charged more than 5,800 defendants accused of billing federal health care programs or private insurers more than $30 billion collectively through nine strike forces operating across 27 federal districts nationwide. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is also working with HHS-OIG on accountability efforts related to health care fraud schemes (https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit).
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