Bradenton firm admits to $1.5M health care scheme

BRADENTON — Officials with Suncoast Brace & Limb admitted the company defrauded the government out of $1.5 million in Medicare and Medicaid claims.

The Bradenton-based firm, according to a release, pleaded guilty to health care fraud. The corporation faces a maximum fine of $500,000 and restitution of about $1.5 million, the statement adds. The amount of the official payment will be ordered at sentencing.

The company, according to the plea agreement, “engaged in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services through a pattern of submitting fraudulent claims for prosthetic devices that had allegedly been provided to patients.”

But the reimbursement claims sent to Medicare and Medicaid for prosthetic devices were either unnecessary or duplicative, prosecutors say, or were not at all compatible with the needs of the particular patient. The activities occurred, authorities contend, from July 2009 through March 2012.

In addition to the restitution, the company and its principal owner will be excluded from participation in federal health care programs for a substantial period of time, the release states.