West Michigan Urogynecologist Sentenced To Prison For Healthcare Fraud And Adulteration Of Medical Devices
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Andrew B. Birge announced today that U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff sentenced Roger D. Beyer, M.D., to 57 months of incarceration for his involvement in a conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and 12 months of incarceration to run concurrently for the adulteration of medical devices.
Dr. Beyer owned and operated the now-shuttered Urological Solutions of Michigan (“USM”), a mobile medical practice providing urological services to patients in their homes and assisted living facilities in the greater Traverse City, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo areas, and Women’s Health Care Specialists (WHCS), a gynecology practice located in Kalamazoo.
Judge Neff enhanced Dr. Beyer’s sentencing guidelines based on the fact that an administrative law judge in 2011 ruled that USM should not bill Medicare for the PMR therapy using the diagnostic codes.
Despite this explicit judicial order, Dr. Beyer and his practices continued to bill for the PMR therapy using the diagnostic codes, but submitting the billing under USM’s nurse practitioners to “fly under the radar.” Judge Neff also applied an enhancement for the reckless risk of bodily injury to patients related to the reuse of medical devices.
In issuing Dr. Beyer’s sentence, Judge Neff found that Dr. Beyer’s offense was a “significant fraud on a very valuable federal program.” Judge Neff observed that the size of the Medicare program “make it a great target for fraud .
The investigation also resulted in the conviction of Dr. Beyer’s wife, Susan Wright, a nurse practitioner and attorney, who pleaded guilty to failing to report ongoing fraud at Dr. Beyer’s practice to law enforcement and also the adulteration of medical devices.
As part of a parallel investigation, each defendant also agreed to pay a civil settlement under the False Claims Act to resolve allegations of the submission of false claims for reimbursement to Medicare as part of the numerous alleged healthcare fraud schemes at Dr. Beyer’s practices.
“Their conduct demonstrates an aggravated indifference for the law and a disregard for the safety and well-being of vulnerable citizens given that the defendants carried on these schemes after being corrected by Medicare’s contractor and an administrative law judge and given the reuse of adulterated medical equipment on Medicare patients.
