A former New Hampshire physician was sentenced Oct. 13 to 12 months and a day in federal prison for health care fraud involving medical equipment prescribed without examining patients.
Steven Powell, 56, who now lives in Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro in Concord. He was also ordered to pay $761,202.75 in repayment to Medicare, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Powell pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud in 2023, according to a Massachusetts medical-board consent order that attaches his plea agreement.
Prosecutors said Powell signed medically unnecessary orders for knee, wrist, back and shoulder braces for more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries between December 2018 and March 2019. They said he did not examine or speak with the patients and instead approved large batches of prefilled orders.
Those orders enabled suppliers to submit about 1,400 fraudulent claims totaling more than $1.9 million, according to the office's account of court documents and statements in court. Medicare paid $761,202.75.