WASHINGTON—A Baton Rouge area-resident pleaded guilty today for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), announced the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office.
Rodney D. Taylor, 45, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady of the Middle District of Louisiana to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks.
According to court documents, Taylor worked as a recruiter for Healthcare 1 LLC, Medical 1 Patient Services LLC and Lifeline Healthcare Services Inc., Louisiana-based companies that fraudulently billed DME to the Medicare program from 2004 to 2009. He and other recruiters were hired to obtain prescriptions for DME such as leg braces, arm braces, power wheel chairs and wheel chair accessories. Taylor obtained information from Medicare beneficiaries as well as prescriptions for medical equipment from the beneficiaries’ physicians. Taylor then sold these prescriptions so they could be used by Healthcare 1, Medical 1 Patient Services and Lifeline Healthcare Services to submit fraudulent claims to the Medicare program.
The indictment alleges that from 2004 to 2009 Medicare was billed more than $21 million as part of this conspiracy.
Taylor faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
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