Judge sentences Cape Girardeau, Missouri woman for Medicare and Medicaid fraud

ST. LOUIS – Brandy McKay, 42, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri appeared before United States District Court Judge Stephen R. Clark on January 18, 2022.  McKay previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and ordered to pay $7,520,779.00 in restitution.

According to the plea agreement, between 2017 and 2019, McKay owned or managed multiple durable medical equipment (DME) companies, including three located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The DME companies paid kickbacks for orders and prescriptions signed by telemedicine doctors and nurse practitioners, who in almost all cases did not examine the patients, had no contact with the patients, and did not otherwise determine that the patients needed durable medical equipment.

The DME companies then submitted reimbursement claims to Medicare and Medicaid.  Based on the fraudulent claims submitted by McKay and her co-conspirators, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursed the DME companies for the medically unnecessary equipment. In many cases, patients received DME equipment from several DME companies, none of which they had requested or needed.

“Submitting false claims for medically unnecessary equipment diverts funding from the necessary services required to support beneficiaries of federal health care programs,” stated Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. “OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable individuals who choose to waste vital taxpayer dollars by participating in health care fraud schemes.”

This case was investigated by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, the U. S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.