5 years in the past, the CEO of one of many largest ache clinic corporations within the Southeast was sentenced to greater than three years in jail after being convicted in a $4 million unlawful kickback scheme.
However after simply 4 months behind bars, John Estin Davis walked free. President Donald Trump commuted Davis’ sentence within the final days of his first time period. In an announcement explaining the choice, the White Home mentioned that “no one suffered financially” from Davis’ crime.
In court docket, nonetheless, the Trump administration was saying one thing very completely different. Because the president let him go, the Division of Justice alleged in a civil lawsuit that Davis and his firm defrauded taxpayers out of tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} with extreme urine drug testing. The DOJ alleged that Complete Ache Specialists made such a “staggering” sum from cups of pee that workers had given the testing a profit-minded nickname: “liquid gold.”
Davis and the corporate denied all allegations in court docket filings and settled the DOJ’s fraud lawsuit with none willpower of legal responsibility. Davis declined to remark for this text.
Since returning to the White Home, Trump has mentioned he’ll goal fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Safety, and his Republican allies in Congress have made combating fraud a key argument of their plans to slash spending on Medicaid, which offers well being take care of hundreds of thousands of low-income and disabled Individuals. Throughout an deal with to Congress final month, Trump mentioned his administration had discovered “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud” with out citing any particular examples of fraud.
“Taken back a lot of that money,” Trump mentioned. “We got it just in time.”
However Trump’s historical past of displaying leniency to convicted fraudsters contrasts along with his present-day crackdown. In his first and second phrases, Trump has granted pardons or commutations to not less than 68 individuals convicted of fraud crimes or of interfering with fraud investigations, in accordance with a KFF Well being Information overview of court docket and clemency data, DOJ press releases, and information studies. At the very least 13 of these fraudsters have been convicted in instances involving greater than $1.6 billion of fraudulent claims filed with Medicare and Medicaid, in accordance with the Division of Justice.
And as one of many first actions of his second time period, Trump fired 17 unbiased inspectors basic chargeable for rooting out fraud and waste in authorities.
“It sends a really bad message and really hurts DOJ efforts at creating deterrence,” mentioned Jacob Elberg, a former assistant U.S. legal professional and legislation professor at Seton Corridor College in New Jersey. “In order to reduce health care fraud, you need people both to be afraid of getting in trouble, but also for people to believe in the legitimacy of the system.”
Elberg mentioned appreciable fraud in Medicare and Medicaid exists largely as a result of the packages’ “pay-and-chase models” prioritize paying for affected person care first and monitoring down stolen {dollars} second. To forestall extra fraud, the packages would probably must be redesigned in ways in which can be slower and extra cumbersome for all sufferers, Elberg mentioned.
Regardless, Elberg mentioned the president’s claimed deal with fraud seems to be a pretext for slashing spending that has been legally appropriated by Congress. Trump has empowered the Elon Musk-led Division of Authorities Effectivity, which he established and named by govt order, to make deep cuts in federal budgets, halting some medical analysis and assist packages along with chopping spending on local weather change, transgender well being, and variety, fairness, and inclusion packages.
“What’s been the focal point to date of the administration is not what anybody has ever referred to as health care fraud,” Elberg mentioned. “There is a real blurring — a seemingly intentional blurring — between what is actually fraud and what is just spending that they are not in favor of.”
Jerry Martin, who served as a U.S. legal professional for the Center District of Tennessee underneath President Barack Obama and now represents well being care fraud whistleblowers, additionally mentioned Trump’s deal with fraud gave the impression to be “just a platform to attack things that they don’t agree with” relatively than “a genuine desire to root out and combat fraud.”
Even so, Martin mentioned a few of his whistleblower purchasers have been emboldened.
“I’ve had clients repeat back to me ‘President Trump says fraud is a priority,’” Martin mentioned. “People are listening to it. But I don’t know that what he’s saying translates into what they believe.”
The White Home didn’t reply to requests for remark for this text.
A Billion-Greenback Fraud Case and Pointless Eye Injections
Presidents benefit from the distinctive authority to erase federal convictions and jail sentences with pardons and commutations. In principle, the ability is meant to be a remaining bulwark towards injustice or overly harsh punishment. However many presidents have been accused of utilizing the pardon energy to reward highly effective allies and shut associates as they go away the White Home.
Trump issued about 190 pardons and commutations within the remaining two months of his first time period, together with for some well being care fraudsters convicted of schemes with astonishing prices.
For instance, Trump granted a commutation to Philip Esformes, a Florida well being care govt convicted in 2019 of a $1.3 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme. After he was sentenced, DOJ introduced in a press launch that “the man behind one of the biggest health care frauds in history will be spending 20 years in prison.” Trump freed him 14 months later.
Trump additionally granted a commutation to Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye physician who was serving a 17-year jail sentence for defrauding Medicare of $42 million. Melgen falsely identified sufferers with eye ailments, then gave them pointless care, together with laser remedies and painful eye injections, in accordance with DOJ and court docket paperwork.
“Salomon Melgen callously took advantage of patients who came to him fearing blindness,” mentioned a DOJ information launch after Melgen was sentenced in 2018. “They received medically unreasonable and unnecessary tests and procedures that victimized his patients and the American taxpayer.”
DOJ: $70 Million Spent on ‘Excessive’ Urine Testing
Regardless of the flurry of pardons and commutations on the finish of Trump’s first time period, the leniency he confirmed Davis was distinctive. Davis was the one convicted well being care fraudster to obtain clemency whereas the Trump administration was concurrently accusing him of extra fraud.
As CEO of Complete Ache Specialists from 2011 to 2017, Davis oversaw a speedy growth to greater than 60 areas throughout 12 states, in accordance with federal court docket paperwork.
He was indicted in 2018 for utilizing his CEO place to refer Medicare sufferers in want of medical tools to a conspirator in return for kickbacks paid via a shell firm, in accordance with court docket paperwork. He was convicted at trial in April 2019 of defrauding Medicare.
Three months later, the DOJ filed a fraud lawsuit towards Davis and CPS that piggybacked on the claims of seven whistleblowers. The lawsuit alleged that CPS collected greater than $70 million from federal insurance coverage packages for urine drug testing, most of which was “excessive,” and that an audit of a sampling of the checks had discovered not less than 93% “lacked medical necessity.”
Usually, authorities insurance coverage packages pay for urine testing so ache clinics can confirm that sufferers are taking their prescriptions correctly and never abusing another medicine, which may contribute to an overdose. Sufferers might be examined as little as annually or as usually as month-to-month relying on their stage of danger, in accordance with the DOJ lawsuit.
However Complete Ache Specialists carried out “myriad urine drug testing on virtually every CPS patient on virtually every visit” then carried out “at least 16 different types of tests” on every pattern, and generally as many as 51, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Trump commuted Davis’ sentence for his felony conviction in January 2021 because the DOJ was finalizing a settlement within the civil lawsuit. The commutation was supported by nation music star Luke Bryan, in accordance with a White Home assertion.
Months later, with President Joe Biden in workplace, CPS and its house owners agreed to repay $4.1 million — lower than 10% of the damages sought within the go well with — and the case was closed.
Within the settlement, Davis agreed to not take any job the place he would ever once more invoice Medicare or different federal well being care packages. He was not required to personally repay something.
Martin, who represented one of many whistleblowers who first raised allegations towards Davis and CPS, mentioned the leniency that Trump confirmed to him and different well being care fraudsters could discourage DOJ workers from pursuing comparable investigations throughout his second time period.
“There are a lot of rank-and-file people who are operating at the lowest point in their professional careers, where they’ve seen a lot of their work essentially be water under the bridge,” Martin mentioned. “That’s got to be really demoralizing.”
