Medicare scams multiply

Fifty-six-year-old Myint is one of three Michigan doctors who have been convicted of unrelated health care fraud offenses in just the last three months. The convictions were secured thanks to the efforts of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which as offices in Detroit.

From late 2006 to early 2007, Myint, Hicks and others submitted $4.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for services they claimed Myint provided at an infusion clinic, Sacred Hope Center, which had been set up solely to defraud the Medicare program. Hicks, 43, also worked at a second clinic, Xpress Center, which falsely billed an additional $2.3 million.

During his trial, Myint was shown to have routinely prescribed unnecessary medications to patients at the clinic, medications that were often never administered. Myint, the only physician employed by Sacred Hope, was asked by its owners to prescribe drugs they knew Medicare would reimburse at a high rate.

Other evidence presented at trial showed that recruiter Hicks paid kickbacks to patients in exchange for their seeking care at the clinics. Hicks recruited patients from downtown Detroit and drove them to the clinics, where they signed documents claiming they had received services that were then billed to Medicare.

A total of 11 defendants have been convicted so far for participating in the scheme. Daisy Martinez, an owner of the two clinics, was sentenced to 96 months in prison.