A federal grand jury issued a 25-count indictment against Scott Taggart Roethle, M.D., an anesthesiologist residing in Kansas, charging Dr. Roethle with conspiring to and participating in a nationwide health-care fraud. At the time Dr. Roethe allegedly committed the offenses, he was licensed to practice medicine in 22 states.
The indictment alleges the beginning in 2017 and continuing until at least 2020, multiple telemedicine and marketing companies paid Roethle illegal kickbacks, totaling $674,026, to sign prescriptions and orders for orthotics, genetic tests, and topical creams. Dr. Roethle was typically paid $30 for each order or prescription he signed. The marketing and telemedicine companies solicited patients through the media and cold calls and then electronically transmitted patient information to Roethle. In almost all instances, Roethle had no contact with the patients and did not determine if they needed the items or services before he signed the orders, the DOJ said. Patients often complained to Dr. Roethle that they did not want or need the items he had ordered for them.
Roethle obtained medical licenses in 22 states and signed orders for thousands of patients residing in these states. Medicare Part B suffered a loss of over $26 million based on fraudulent prescriptions and orders signed by Roethle. Read more.
