Chiropractor Pleads Guilty and Sentenced for Making False Claims to Medicare

James Briggs, 46, of Brentwood, Missouri, pled guilty to an information charging one-count of Making a False Claim against the United States. Sentencing was held immediately after the plea hearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Don Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today. The Court sentenced Briggs to six months of home confinement, five years of probation, a $100 special assessment, a $10,000 fine, and $8,221.30 in restitution.

During his plea hearing, Briggs, a chiropractic physician licensed in Illinois, who operated clinics in Jerseyville and Wood River, admitted that he submitted a false claim for an ankle orthotic to Medicare on October 4, 2013. Briggs agreed to pay mandatory restitution to Medicare for all ankle orthotic claims totaling $5,338.25. Briggs also agreed to pay voluntary restitution to other health care benefit plans including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, and United Healthcare for all ankle orthotic claims totaling $2,883.05.

The Southern Illinois Health Care Fraud Task Force conducted the investigation with active participation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Office of the Inspector General; the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General; the U.S.

Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General – Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service; the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General; and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Quinley and Ranley R. Killian prosecuted the case.