The 79-year-old former CEO of a health care software firm was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was conv
icted of more than $1 billion in fraud tied to falsely billing Medicare for durable medical equipment and other items.
Gary Cox, who previously lived in Arizona, was convicted in June by a federal jury in Miami. A judge sentenced him last week to what prosecutors ha
d asked for—a lengthy sentence but one that also allowed for his age. He could have faced as much as 20 years.
“Cox and his coconspirators orchestrated one of the largest health care frauds in our nation,” a U.S. Attorney wrote in the sentencing memorandum. “A significant senten
ce is required to show the seriousness of these crimes. Health care fraud is on the rise nationally.”
Cox led Power Mobility Doctor Rx, which targeted Medicare beneficiaries through misleading mailers, advert
isements and phone calls from offshore, the U.S. Department of Justice noted. He and co-conspirators connecte
d pharmacies and durable medical equipment makers with tel
medicine companies that would accept kickbacks for signed doctors’ orders, using the online platform his company created.
Cox and his co-conspirators received payments for coordinating these illegal kickback transactions and referring the completed doctors’ orders to the DME
suppliers, pharmacies and telemarketers that paid kickbacks and bribes for the orders, the DOJ said in a statement. The
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scheme defrauded Medicare and other insurance providers.
One of Cox’ co-conspirators, Gregory Schreck, of Kansas, pleaded guilty in February but has not been sentenced. Brett
Blackman also pleaded guilty this year. All were indicted in 2023.
The billing scheme was one of many that continue to be perpe
trated on insurers, including auto insurance carriers in Florida, New York and other states, in which insurers are billed for
unnecessary or unused medical treatments, equipment and medications, insurance attorneys have said.