Detroit Doc Gets Six Years for Medicare Fraud

Toe Myint, MD, was sentenced Monday in Detroit to six years in prison for his part in a Medicare fraud scheme at sham infusion clinics. An accomplice who recruited patients into the scam will serve more than three years behind bars, federal authorities said.

Myint, of Bloomfield Hills, MI, was also ordered to pay more than $3.1 million in restitution, jointly with co-defendants, and to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term. Terrence Hicks, of Jackson, MI, the patient recruiter, was ordered to pay more than $4.9 million in restitution, jointly with co-defendants, and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

Myint, 56, was convicted by a Detroit jury on Jan. 22, of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, following a week-long trial. In the last three months, three Michigan doctors have been convicted of separate healthcare fraud offenses as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in Detroit. Hicks, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud on Dec. 18.

Between October 2006 and March 2007, Myint, Hicks and their co-conspirators submitted more than $4.2 million in false claims to Medicare for services supposedly provided by Myint at Sacred Hope Center Inc., a purported infusion clinic. Medicare paid more than $3.1 million of those claims. Hicks also worked at a second, related infusion clinic, called Xpress Center, Inc., which billed an additional $2.3 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.

So far, 11 defendants have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial for their roles in the two fraudulent clinics. Daisy Martinez, an owner of Sacred Hope and Xpress Center, was sentenced in March to eight years in prison.