In an update to an April 12, 2024, story, Ashley Brown has agreed to pay $52,560 to resolve allegations that she violated the False Claims Act by signing hundreds of medically unnecessary prescriptions for expensive orthotic braces in exchange for kickback payments of $20 per patient. Read a Department of Justice press release.
Advanced registered nurse practitioner Ashley Brown is accused of bilking taxpayers out of $1 million by prescribing unneeded Medicare-funded medical devices in return for kickbacks. Brown allegedly ordered costly and unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME) – including hundreds of back, shoulder, knee, wrist, and elbow orthotic braces – for individuals without having had any professional interaction with them. As part of what the Department of Justice calls a “scheme for easy cash,” Brown was paid $20 for each patient file she reviewed. On one day, the DOJ says that she spent “a mere nine seconds per prescription with the records open before attesting to medical necessity.” Read a story from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.