Related Federal Cases
David L. Biersmith, 80, Guilty of Health Care Fraud Scheme in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the owner of an Independence, Mo., medical clinic pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a fraud scheme that involved disability examinations of veterans and to making false statements regarding his role in the physical examinations of commercial truck drivers.
David L. Biersmith, 80, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to a federal information that charges him with one count of health care fraud and one count of making false statements to a federal agency.
Biersmith was the owner and president of Industrial Medical Center (IMC) in Independence. Although Biersmith had no medical license or other medical credentials, IMC was a drug- and DNA-testing center and had contracts with various entities to provide medical services to patients and to provide drug testing and physical examinations for drivers of commercial motor vehicles.
On April 23, 2013, Biersmith signed a contract with Logistics Health, Inc., to provide disability examinations for veterans to determine the extent of veterans’ impairments and eligibility for benefits. Initially those examinations were conducted by a licensed physician at IMC. When the physician left in July 2013, Biersmith directed Wayne W. Williamson, 74, of Kansas City, and another person to perform the examinations, although they were not authorized to do so under the contract with Logistics Health.
Williamson was formerly a physician but lost his medical license due to an earlier fraud scheme and a narcotics distribution charge. In a separate but related case, Williamson pleaded guilty on Jan. 17, 2017, to health care fraud. Williamson was a medical consultant at IMC during various periods beginning at least as early as 2013 through at least March 2015.
The scheme involved IMC falsely representing that a licensed physician had completed and electronically signed the Disability Benefits Questionnaires. IMC submitted invoices to Logistics Health to be paid for 209 disability examinations on 53 veterans. In turn, Logistics Health submitted invoices to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the disability examinations performed by its subcontractor, IMC. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs paid Logistics Health $39,155 for the disability examinations performed by its subcontractor, IMC.
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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