A Miami-area nurse practitioner on Thursday was sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally signing thousands of orders for medical equipment and genetic tests while submitting $192 million in false claims to the taxpayer-funded Medicare program.
Elizabeth Hernandez, 45, of Homestead was found guilty of playing a central role in a scheme involving telemarketing companies that contacted and convinced Medicare patients to request unnecessary medical products and services, including orthotic braces and genetic tests for cancer.
The companies then sent pre-filled orders for the products to Hernandez, who signed them while falsely stating she had examined or treated the patients, federal prosecutors said. Hernandez billed Medicare as though she were conducting complex office visits with the patients, most of whom she never spoke to or saw. Prosecutors said she routinely submitted claims to the federal insurance program for more than 24 hours of “office visits” in a single day.