The 79-year-old former CEO of a health care software firm was se
ntenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of more than $1 billion in f
raud 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
asked had asked for—a lengthy sentence but one that is 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 judgment memorial
um. “A significant sentence is required to show the seriousness of these cri
mes. Health care fraud is on the rise nationally.”
Cox led Power Mobility Doctor Rx, which targets Medicare benefits
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ciaries through misleading mailers, advertisements and phone calls from offshore, the U.S. Department of Justice noted. He and co-conspirators connected effectively and du
rable medical equipment makers with telemedicine companies that would accept kickbacks for signed doctors’ orders, using th
e online platform his company created.
Cox and his co-conspirators received payments for coordinating these illegal kickback transactions and referring to the com
pleted doctors’ orders to the DME suppliers, effective and telemarketers that paid kickbacks and bribes for the orders, the DOJ said in a
statement. statement. The scheme defrauded Medicare and other insurance providers.
One of Cox' co-conspirators, Gregory Schreck, of Kansas, confessed
guilty in February but has not been convicted. Brett Blackman also admitted guilty this year. All were predicted in 2023.
The billing scheme was one of many that continues to be perpetrated on insu
rers, including auto insurance carriers in Florida, New York and other states, in which warranties are billed for unnecessary or unused medi
cal treatments, equipment and medications, insurance attorneys have said. Read more here.