Dr. Le Thu, 71, of Boston, was sentenced on Oct. 6 to 36 months in prison, three years, for signing Medicare orders for patients she had never treated. She was also ordered to pay over $27 million in restitution. Medicare paid more than $27 million on claims that came from her orders.
Orders signed without a patient visit
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a sentencing announcement that Thu signed thousands of orders for genetic tests and medical equipment for Medicare patients. Before signing, she had not interacted with those patients or provided them any medical care. Some of the orders were signed by staff who had no medical training.
The claims built on those orders added up to more than $40 million, according to the announcement. Medicare paid more than $27 million of that. The restitution order is for over $27 million, in line with what Medicare paid rather than what was billed…