Software CEO convicted for running $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme

Crime Software company owner convicted for running "cold, calculated" $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme By Kerry Breen Kerry Breen News Editor Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use. Read Full Bio Kerry Breen May 14, 2026 / 12:38 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The owner of a healthcare software company was convicted of massive Medicare fraud on Thursday, the Department of Justice said, ending what Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called "one of the most egregious fraud schemes in Florida history." HealthSplash owner and CEO Brett Blackman, 42, and co-conspirators "aggressively targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to get them to accept medically unnecessary" products including orthotic braces, according to a DOJ news release.Blackman and his co-conspirators used Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC, or DMERx, a platform acquired by HealthSplash in 2017, to coordinate illegal kickbacks with telemedicine doctors and pharmacies that would falsely bill Medicare for the unnecessary items, the DOJ said. The fraud was hidden with sham contracts and manipulation of documents. The scheme included generating "false and fraudulent doctors' orders" that indicated a doctor had examined a Medicare beneficiary, when in reality the doctor had little or no interaction with the patient. When an undercover agent posed as a Medicare beneficiary, they were shunted to an overseas call center, where representatives pushed them to agree to order multiple braces, according to the Justice Department. A doctor's note claims that a physician conducted various tests on the undercover agent, but the agent and doctor never met, the DOJ said.   Brett Blackman Department of Justice Blackman and his co-conspirators billed Medicare and other federal healthca...