Home » Crime and Fraud • US business news » Tennesse Podiatrist Jailed Over Medicare Footbath Fraud
Tennesse Podiatrist Jailed Over Medicare Footbath Fraud
https://www.whatjobs.com/news/usa/us-business-news/tennesse-podiatrist-jailed-over-medicare-footbath-fraud
By Hugh Fort in Crime and Fraud, posted July 1, 2024
A Tennessee podiatrist has been jailed for four years for a scheme to defraud Medicare and TennCare.
Nathan Lucas, 59, of Memphis, prescribed and dispensed medically unnecessary foot bath medications, which led to him claiming millions of dollars in reimbursements.
Court documents and evidence showed Lucas owned and operated a podiatry clinic and two pharmacies.
He regularly prescribed antibiotic and antifungal drugs to be mixed into a tub of water for patients to soak their feet.
These drug cocktails included capsules, creams, and powders.
These were not supposed to be dissolved in water and some were not even water soluble.
Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career
Lucas chose these medications to prescribe and dispense based on their anticipated reimbursement amount, rather than medical necessity.
Between October 2018 and September 2021, Lucas submitted nearly $4 million in claims to Medicare and TennCare.
These payments were for dispensing expensive foot bath medications that were not medically necessary and not eligible for reimbursement.
Lucas’s pharmacies were reimbursed over $3 million.
A federal jury convicted Lucas on March 18 of five counts of health care fraud.
Follow us on YouTube, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook
