JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) - Three family members have been sentenced to prison in Tennessee for defrauding federal health care programs of millions of dollars by selling back braces and power wheelchairs to people who did not need them in three states.
Sandra Bailey, her husband, Calvin, and son Bryan were convicted after a three-week trial in February in Jackson, Tennessee, of charges including health care fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.
The Baileys told patients in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi that they could receive power wheelchairs and back braces at no cost, though Medicare. The Baileys falsified medical and financial records to make it appear patients were qualified, when they really did not need the equipment and weren’t indigent.
The U.S. attorney’s office said Friday that Sandra Bailey has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her husband has received a sentence of three years and nine months, and her son was sentenced to seven years.
Calvin and Bryan Bailey also have been ordered to pay more than $3 million combined in restitution.
Prosecutors said the Baileys paid recruiters who found patients and gave kickbacks to a physician and nurse practitioner who ordered the equipment without examining the patients.
Patients testified that they never saw the doctor or nurse before the Baileys delivered the braces and wheelchairs. Patients also testified that they didn’t need and never used the power wheelchairs.
The Baileys caused more than $4 million in fraudulent billing, while receiving $1.2 million in salary and sales commissions. They worked at Jaspan Medical Systems, which has an office in Jackson.
Calvin Bailey is also the former principal at Medina Elementary School in Medina, Tennessee.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.
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