Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said they dismantled one of the largest health care fraud schemes ever investigated by the FBI, charging 24 people in a $1.2 billion alleged scam involving telemedicine and durable medical equipment companies.

As part of the complex operation, doctors got kickbacks for prescribing unneeded back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces to elderly and disabled patients and charging the government's Medicare program, the Department of Justice said.

The accused "concocted an elaborate scheme to exploit the U.S. health care system by targeting Medicare beneficiaries, paying doctors for prescriptions, paying kickbacks and bribes, and in turn selling these prescriptions to DME companies to ensure that they could line their pockets," IRS special agent Matthew Line said, according to Tut Underwood of South Carolina Public Radio.

Prosecutors allege a multilayered scheme to defraud Medicare. Call centers in the Philippines and Latin America advertised to Medicare beneficiaries and "up-sold" them on unnecessary medical braces, they say.

The call centers then paid bribes to telemedicine companies, who in turn paid doctors to write orders for the equipment. Then the call centers sold the orders to the durable medical equipment companies and billed Medicare.

译：

 据称，联邦政府已提起24项指控，涉及12亿美元的医疗保险欺诈计划

联邦检察官周二表示，他们拆除了联邦调查局有史以来调查过的最大的医疗保健欺诈计划之一，在一项涉及远程医疗和耐用医疗设备公司的12亿美元涉嫌骗局中指控了24人。

司法部说，作为复杂手术的一部分，医生得到了回扣，为老年人和残疾患者开出不需要的背部，肩部，腕部和膝盖支撑，并收取政府的医疗保险计划费用。

被告“制定了一个精心设计的计划，通过针对医疗保险受益人，向医生支付处方药，支付回扣和贿赂来开发美国医疗保健系统，然后将这些处方出售给DME公司，以确保他们可以排队等待，”IRS特别报道据南卡罗来纳州公共广播电台的Tut Underwood称，经纪人Matthew Line表示。

检察官指控一项多层计划诈骗医疗保险。他们说，菲律宾和拉丁美洲的呼叫中心向医疗保险受益人做广告，并用不必要的医疗支撑“向上销售”。

然后，呼叫中心向远程医疗公司行贿，后者又向医生支付了设备订单。然后，呼叫中心将订单卖给了耐用的医疗设备公司，并向医疗保险计费。