Four Convicted in Louisiana for $4.7M Medicare Fraud Scheme Over Wheelchairs

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The owner of a durable medical equipment company in Baton Rouge, La., a physician and two patient recruiters have been convicted for their roles in a $4.7 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.Following a two-week trial, Nnanta Felix Ngari, Sofjan Lamid, MD, Henry Lamont Jones and Ernest Payne were each convicted by a federal jury in the Middle District of Louisiana of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal kickbacks.Mr. Ngari owned and operated Unique Medical Solution, a Baton Rouge-area DME supplier that specialized in the provision of power wheelchairs to Medicare beneficiaries. The health recruiters would funnel patients to Unique "health fairs," where Dr. Lamid would prescribe power wheelchairs that were medically unnecessary. From 2003-2009, Unique submitted approximately $4.7 million in claims to Medicare for purported services. Medicare paid Unique approximately $2.5 million for these claims.A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Both conspiracy counts carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Read the DOJ release on the Medicare fraud scheme in Baton Rouge.

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