A Whitefish doctor, Ronald David Dean, was sentenced Friday to six months in prison, fined $100,000, and ordered to pay $780,509 in restitution for his role in defrauding Medicare and other federal health programs through a telemedicine conspiracy. The scheme resulted in more than $31 million in false billing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana.
Dean, 64, a licensed physician, admitted to accepting payments from a telemedicine company to sign orders for unnecessary durable medical equipment, including braces, and falsely billing Medicare, CHAMPVA, and the Railroad Retirement Board for non-existent telemedicine visits. The scheme also involved unauthorized prescriptions for COVID-19 tests, which were billed to Medicare.
The fraud ran from January 2022 to July 2023, with Dean’s actions leading to more than $31 million in billed charges, of which $13.7 million was paid out. As part of the conspiracy, Dean failed to evaluate or personally examine patients, instead approving the equipment and tests without confirming their need.
In addition to his prison sentence, Dean will serve one year of supervised release following his confinement.