James McNamara, a Kansas City resident, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a sweeping Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for cancer and cardiovascular genetic testing, according to a Department of Justice press release.
McNamara operated several labs in Louisiana and Texas that billed Medicare for unnecessary genetic tests. His team relied on aggressive telemarketing to collect testing orders from Medicare beneficiaries. These orders were then signed by telemedicine doctors who had never actually treated or even spoken with the patients.
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To cover his tracks, McNamara paid illegal kickbacks disguised as legitimate business contracts. He also rotated billing among labs to avoid detection and concealed his involvement by naming family members as company representatives.
Over an 18-month period, the labs submitted more than $174 million in false claims, with Medicare paying out $55 million.
McNamara is scheduled for sentencing on September 9. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
