Update from a November 3, 2022, story: Ford was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Read a Department of Justice press release.
Furman Alexander Ford, owner and operator of IAM Healthcare, has been convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, he and co-conspirator Jimmy Guess conspired in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting false claims to Medicare for mental health services that were never provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Schemes to obtain Medicare information included offering teletherapy counseling to assisted living homes for the elderly and disabled, free food in exchange for the Medicare information of low-income elderly parishioners at churches, and cold calling unsuspecting victims offering telehealth services. Read a story from CBS 17 and a Department of Justice press release.