138 people were charged with health care fraud by the Department of Justice last week.
The loss amounted to $1.4 billion dollars and many individuals charged were doctors and nurse practitioners.
$1.1 billion of the loss came from the use of telemedicine.
Other fraud was committed using COVID medical costs, substance abuse treatment facilities and illegal opioid distribution.
The fraud went all the way to the top, with telemedicine executives bribing doctors and nurses to order various medical supplies and equipment without having any appointments with patients.
From there, pharmacies and labs purchased the orders with briberies and filed over one billion dollars in false claims to Medicare.
A statement released said the money made from the scheme paid for yachts, real estate, and other luxury items.
12 million doses of opioids were illegally prescribed and $14 million in false billings resulted.
The way these defendants were able to get patients Medicare numbers was by taking them when offering COVID-19 tests.
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