Health care fraud: The Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday against 455 people as part of a two-week healthcare fraud crackdown that officials say involved more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers.
Among those charged is a nurse practitioner accused in Texas of billing Medicare for medically unnecessary wound-care procedures and using the proceeds for fancy jewelry and luxury cars; a mental health company owner who prosecutors say targeted the homeless by billing for crisis stabilization services they did not receive; and a hospice owner alleged to have paid kickbacks to a funeral home employee for information about deceased Medicare beneficiaries.
