Health care fraud is a major part of the Federal criminal defense practice at Jeffrey S. Weiner, P.A. based in Miami, Florida. We have represented physicians, pharmacists, pharmacy owners (often compounding pharmacies), clinic owners, physician assistants, nurses, nursing home owners and operators, and others involved in the health care field.
Health care fraud encompasses a wide range of illegal activities. There are many federal criminal statutes utilized by prosecutors (called Assistant United States Attorneys) to indict or charge people with health care fraud offenses. Often, federal prosecutors in the various federal districts around the country and from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. spend many months investigating each health care related crime before bringing criminal charges. The investigations are conducted by Federal law enforcement agents and by prosecutors primarily using grand jury subpoenas to gather evidence before charges at brought.
Some examples of typical health care fraud crimes (all felonies), charged in Federal courts include alleged violations of the anti-kickback statute which prohibits paying money or “gifts” for referring Medicare patients (42 United States Code section 1320); submitting false statements to Medicare to obtain reimbursements for services which were not performed or necessary (18 United States Code section 1001); the mail or wire fraud statutes (18 United States Code sections 1341 and 1343); the false claims statute (18 United States Code section 286); and the all-encompassing Federal health care statute (18 United States Code section1347) which punishes persons who knowingly execute or attempt to execute a scheme to defraud any health care program or health care benefit program.
The Federal criminal defense attorneys at Jeffrey S. Weiner, P.A. have represented good people who made mistakes that caused them to be charged. We have represented people who did not believe that they were violating health care laws as they profited from prohibited acts. We have represented people who saw how easy it is to defraud the federal government health care programs and who decided that the risk of getting caught was worth it - until they got caught. Guilty or not, we do not judge you. We represent you and fight for you.
Federal government scrutiny of health care programs is intense with hundreds of law enforcement agents (Federal and state) from several agencies investigating these types of cases every day, all over the country.
No matter what your alleged involvement is or may have been, it is essential that you have top-notch federal health care criminal defense attorneys representing you. Lengthy prison sentences are regularly imposed on persons convicted of federal health care violations. We can help you and welcome the opportunity to represent you. Guilty or not guilty, you should have an experienced federal defense attorney to represent you. Call us as soon as you believe you have possibly committed a crime, or when you find out that you are under investigation. If you have been arrested, contact us immediately and before you speak with the arresting agents or anyone from the government.