Seventy-five signatures on more than 100 pages in just over a minute. That is how fast federal prosecutors say Steven Powell, a former New Hampshire doctor, approved brace orders for Medicare patients he had never examined. On October 13 a federal judge sentenced Powell, 56, to 12 months and a day in prison, and ordered him to pay $761,202.75 in restitution to Medicare.
The orders were for knee, wrist, back and shoulder braces. Prosecutors say the suppliers who filled them billed Medicare for more than $1.9 million, and Medicare paid out $761,202.75 of it.
What the orders looked like
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire, Powell is a licensed psychiatrist who now lives in Georgia. Between December 2018 and March 2019 he prescribed durable medical equipment, the category that covers braces, to Medicare beneficiaries without examining them, talking to them or meaningfully evaluating them. The release calls the braces medically unnecessary.
The paperwork arrived pre-filled, prosecutors say, and Powell approved large batches within minutes. In one case he completed more than 100 pages needing 75 signatures in just over a minute. The orders covered more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries, often with several braces for the same person. Medical equipment suppliers turned them into about 1,400 claims. The release does not name the suppliers.
Powell pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud. U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro handed down the sentence. The release does not mention a fine, forfeiture or supervised release.
For the more than 500 people whose names were on those orders, the case comes down to something simple. A brace was billed to Medicare in their name on the word of a doctor who never saw them. People on Medicare who find an item on a statement they did not ask for, a brace or anything else, are looking at the same pattern, and the statement is where it shows up first.
The $1.9 million billed against $761,202.75 paid is one of many billed-versus-paid gaps the Justice Department posts as new Medicare sentences come in.
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What the three agencies said
U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said Powell “abused his position and his medical license in order to defraud taxpayers.” Ted E. Docks, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Boston, said Powell “abandoned all pretense of professional ethics when he caused nearly $2 million in false Medicare bills.” Roberto Coviello, the special agent in charge for the Health and Human Services inspector general, said the sentence “reflects the seriousness of that conduct.”
The FBI and the HHS Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kennedy prosecuted the case.
Billed, paid and ordered back
Three numbers in the release measure different things. The $1.9 million is what the suppliers billed Medicare across about 1,400 claims. The $761,202.75 is what Medicare actually paid, and it is the restitution figure the court set. The FBI’s “nearly $2 million” refers to the billed total.
Medicare paid about 40 percent of the billed amount, a ratio that follows from those two figures. The restitution matches the paid amount, not the billed one.
The scheme ran from December 2018 through March 2019, about four months, according to the release. In that window, orders covering more than 500 people went through, often with multiple braces for one patient. The suppliers that submitted the claims are not named in the release.
Another brace-order case
Brace orders have turned up in other Medicare cases. The HHS inspector general’s enforcement page says Christopher Harwood, 43, owner of the Florida telemedicine company TelevisitMD, pleaded guilty in March to leading a $46.2 million Medicare fraud conspiracy that ran more than six years. According to that page, telemarketing pushed Medicare patients to accept orthotic braces and genetic tests they did not need, Harwood paid doctors to approve the orders, and he sold the signed orders to equipment suppliers, laboratories and marketers. The doctors in that case did not follow Medicare’s telemedicine rules and had no real medical relationship with the patients. The Powell release does not say who prepared the pre-filled orders he approved.
Braces and equipment on a Medicare statement
The government’s Medicare site tells beneficiaries to compare the dates and services on each statement with their own calendar and to confirm every listed service was received. A secure Medicare.gov account lists Original Medicare claims soon after they are processed. Medicare says suspected fraud can be reported at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), and it says Medicare does not call to sell anything. People with a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicare drug plan have a separate line for suspected fraud, the Investigations Medicare Drug Integrity Contractor, at 1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379).
For equipment, that means checking each item on the statement against what actually arrived at the door. If a brace was billed that never came, or a doctor’s name appears that the patient has never met, the date and supplier name on the statement are the details to keep.
The Health and Human Services inspector general takes complaints through its fraud-reporting page and at 1-800-HHS-TIPS. It asks for the names and contact information of the person or business involved, a short account with the time frame, and billing records or other evidence. The office says not every report leads to an investigation.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
