Telemedicine Company Owner Sentenced to 20 Years for Leading $46.2M Medicare Fraud Scheme and Paying Doctors to Sign Fraudulent Orders
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Oct. 23 that Christopher Harwood, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced the same day to 20 years in prison for organizing and leading a $46.2 million Medicare fraud conspiracy through his telemedicine company, TelevisitMD, over more than six years. He was also ordered to pay $17,942,402 in restitution to Medicare and $10,431,463 in forfeiture.
According to court documents cited by the department, Harwood and his co-conspirators targeted Medicare patients through aggressive telemarketing campaigns, inducing them to accept orthotic braces and genetic tests they did not need. Harwood paid doctors to approve orders for the braces and tests; the doctors did not follow Medicare's telemedicine rules, had no real medical relationships with the patients, and often signed orders without any meaningful interaction with them. Harwood then sold the signed orders to durable medical equipment (DME) supply companies, laboratories and marketers in the scheme.
Harwood also owned and operated multiple Florida-based DME supply companies that billed Medicare millions of dollars for braces patients did not want or need. In total, the scheme submitted $46.2 million in false claims, Medicare paid $17.9 million, and Harwood personally profited more than $10.4 million. He pleaded guilty in March 2026 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.
The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI Miami Field Office, and Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Miranda Bennett of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case, and Trial Attorney Owen Dunn of the Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section is prosecuting it.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：佛罗里达州 Fort Lauderdale 水岸城区，被告 Christopher Harwood 在当地经营远程医疗公司 TelevisitMD（资料图）。照片：Tamanoeconomico，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Christopher Harwood operated TelevisitMD (file photo). Photo: Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
