Mount Pleasant man sentenced in Medicare fraud scheme

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – A Mount Pleasant man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his role in what authorities called one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes in history.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina explained that Andrew Chmiel, 48, controlled and operated about 10 durable medical equipment (DME) companies throughout the United States.

The companies, according to evidence presented during the trial, were used by Chmiel and his co-conspirators to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for braces that were not medically necessary or were obtained through kickbacks and bribes.

The DME companies officiated agreements with an offshore call center to purchase completed doctors’ orders and bill Medicare.

“This offshore call center was advertising through television and internet advertisements. Once a Medicare beneficiary called a 1-800 number that was on the advertisements, that Medicare beneficiary would be screened for eligibility and then convinced that he or she needed a brace, and oftentimes upsold on other braces,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The call center then contacted a telemedicine company whose physician or nurse practitioner would issue a prescription.

“Throughout the investigation the evidence revealed that beneficiaries were prescribed braces without ever being examined by, seeing, or, in some instances, even speaking to a medical professional. Evidence presented showed that Chmiel was attempting to hide that he was purchasing completed doctors’ orders by creating fraudulent and false invoices for alleged marketing and business processing services,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.

Chmiel’s companies billed Medicare more than $200 million. His companies were paid more than $95 million.

He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison, followed by a three-year sentence of court-ordered supervision. Chmiel is ordered to pay $98,935,533 in restitution.

This case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office, Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, and IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Bower prosecuted the case.