Criminal and civil enforcement actions taken as part of a joint-agency health care fraud operation are investigating medical practitioners who have signed off on illegitimate orders for medical braces and cancer genetic testing promoted by telemarketers. The ongoing investigation – dubbed Operation “Happy Clickers” – resolves alleged fraud losses to date to Medicare of over $7.3 million. In one case, a nurse practitioner admitted executing orders without reviewing records. In others, some physicians allegedly approved orders for medically unnecessary braces and cancer genetic testing despite many red flags that these items and services were illegitimate. Read a Department of Justice press release.
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