Harris’ $60M Medicare Fraud Ring Nets 16 Indictments

GRIMY TIMES EXCLUSIVE: A federal grand jury in Dallas has indicted 16 individuals, including Frisco’s Bradley J. Harris, for a staggering $60 million Medicare fraud scheme.

The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, with twelve facing additional counts related to the crime. U.S. Attorney John Parker called the theft ‘shocking’ and the level of depravity involved in using vulnerable human life ‘untolerable’.

According to the indictment, Novus Health Services billed Medicare and Medicaid over $60 million for fraudulent hospice services from 2012 to 2016. Harris, a certified public accountant without medical licenses, co-owned and operated Novus with his wife, Amy L. Harris. They used kickbacks and falsified documents to recruit ineligible hospice beneficiaries and direct patient care primarily based on financial interests.

Licensed physicians were paid to act as ‘medical directors’ with little oversight over patient care. These medical directors would sign false terminal illness certificates and provide login information for their electronic records database to create fraudulent physician orders. Harris directed whether a beneficiary would be placed on continuous care, regardless of need, solely to increase billing.

The investigation revealed that assisted living facilities were provided remuneration in exchange for patient referrals, including Certified Nursing Assistants paid by Novus. The grand jury’s charges reflect the community’s intolerance for such schemes and the justice system’s response to protect Medicare funds.