Health-Care Fraud Force Arrests 111

First the mob, now corrupt health-care professionals. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force nabbed 111 suspects in nine cities Thursday morning in what Attorney General Eric Holder called the largest such sweep in U.S. history. Most of the more than 40 schemes were unrelated, and together they attempted to cheat the U.S. government out of more than $225 million. The largest fraud was based in Brooklyn, where a physical-therapy ring billed Medicare almost $57 million from February 2008 to the present. A Detroit podiatrist billed for 18 toenail removals from a single patient. Although most of these scams were small-scale, FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry says the agency is increasingly seeing organized crime get into the business of health-care fraud.