Annapolis Lab Owner Convicted in $18.7 Million Medicare Respiratory Testing Fraud Case

A federal jury in Maryland has convicted an Annapolis laboratory owner of health care fraud and money laundering in connection with $18.7 million in Medicare billing for respiratory tests, the Justice Department said.

According to the department, Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, was convicted on Oct. 19 of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

The department said evidence at trial showed that in 2020 Britton-Harr offered COVID-19 testing to nursing homes nationwide. After other laboratories ran the COVID-19 tests, he billed Medicare through his company, Provista Health, for separate respiratory pathogen panel tests that were purportedly performed at a laboratory he owned in Arizona. Prosecutors said physicians had not ordered the tests and that some were never performed, including tests billed for residents who had died. According to the department, billing continued after the Arizona laboratory had closed and no longer had the necessary equipment.

Medicare paid more than $7.2 million of the $18.7 million billed over six months, the department said. It said trial evidence showed Britton-Harr directed employees, including a family member and student interns, to bill for the tests. He used proceeds to buy a Porsche 911 and make mortgage payments on an Annapolis home, according to the department.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/295