Man allegedly uses Ellwood City hospital to defraud Medicare for $25 million
A Florida man is charged in federal court after allegedly defrauding a now closed Ellwood City hospital.
Beginning in 2018, federal prosecutors say 58-year-old Daniel Hurt participated in a conspiracy related to Medicare billing for cancer genomic (CGx) testing. CGx testing is used to find mutations in genes that could show an individual's higher risk for some types of cancer. However, the tests cannot diagnose cancer presently in the body.
In the alleged scheme, Hurt and his co-conspirators collected thousands of these tests from Medicare beneficiaries across the country. Prosecutors say the group of co-conspirators convinced beneficiaries to swab their cheeks and submit the CGx tests during "health fairs," or by sending the tests to people's homes.
From there, prosecutors say Hurt would have the specimens sent to Ellwood City Medical Center (ECMC) for testing. Hurt allegedly used ECMC as the billing entity for Medicare, despite the facility not having the correct equipment to test the specimens on-site.
Since the specimens couldn't be tested at the hospital, prosecutors say that Hurt directed ECMC employees to repackage the samples and send them to a third party facility that had the proper testing equipment.
From there, the report says Medicare would reimburse ECMC for the testing. By October of 2019, prosecutors claim Medicare reimbursed ECMC more than $25 million for the CGx testing.
Hurt would then allegedly have ECMC staff members transfer millions of dollars of the reimbursements to hospital related accounts that he was in control of.
To disguise the alleged fraud, prosecutors say Hurt entered into sham contracts with the co-conspirators.
The report claims Hurt and his co-conspirators used some of the Medicare reimbursements to make large purchases, one of which was a $3 million luxury boat Hurt named "In My DNA."
Hurt is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, pay and receive unlawful kickbacks, and engage in money laundering. If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
