Kansas Doctor Sentenced to Federal Prison in $8 Million Medicare Brace Fraud Scheme

A Kansas anesthesiologist has been sentenced to federal prison after investigators uncovered his role in a nationwide scheme that used telemarketing networks and fraudulent prescriptions to bill millions of dollars to the Medicare system. The case reveals how large-scale medical fraud operations can exploit both vulnerable patients and federal health programs through coordinated networks of call centers, equipment suppliers, billing companies, and licensed physicians.

In federal court in St. Louis, U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry sentenced Dr. Scott Taggart Roethle, 48, of the Kansas City area, to three years in federal prison and ordered him to pay $8.3 million in restitution tied to fraudulent Medicare claims.

According to federal court records, Roethle admitted that from 2017 through 2020 he participated in a scheme centered on the mass production of medically unnecessary orthotic brace prescriptions. The operation relied heavily on telemarketing call centers operating outside the United States. These call centers targeted elderly Medicare beneficiaries and persuaded them to provide personal and insurance information by promoting free or low-cost medical braces.

Once patient information was collected, it moved through a pipeline involving marketers, equipment suppliers, and billing intermediaries. Physicians affiliated with the network — including Roethle — were then asked to approve brace prescriptions for patients they had never examined and whose medical histories they had not evaluated.

Investigators determined that Roethle signed thousands of orthotic brace prescriptions without performing medical evaluations or establishing doctor-patient relationships. In many cases the paperwork falsely represented that he had personally examined and diagnosed the patients before authorizing the medical equipment.

After the prescriptions were signed, brace suppliers shipped orthopedic braces to patients and billing companies submitted claims to Medicare. Federal investigators determined that the fraudulent prescriptions signed by Roethle helped generate more than $8 million in Medicare reimbursements for braces that were not medically necessary.

Roethle was typically paid about $30 for each prescription he approved, accumulating approximately $674,000 in payments from five companies that participated in the operation. Court records show that he did not provide follow-up care or medical oversight for the patients whose prescriptions he authorized, reinforcing that the prescriptions existed only to generate insurance claims.

Orthotic brace fraud has been a persistent problem in federal health care programs for more than a decade. The schemes frequently rely on telemarketing and telemedicine networks designed to rapidly generate prescriptions in bulk, using physicians who approve orders without direct patient interaction. Once the prescriptions are issued, durable medical equipment suppliers ship the braces and submit reimbursement claims to federal insurance programs such as Medicare.

Federal investigators say the structure of these operations allows fraud networks to move large volumes of claims quickly while masking the roles of individual participants. Telemarketers gather patient data, telemedicine platforms route medical orders, physicians sign prescriptions, and equipment suppliers submit billing claims — creating a layered system designed to conceal responsibility and maximize reimbursement.

In this case, federal authorities determined that Roethle’s medical license served as a critical authorization point that allowed the fraudulent claims to move forward through Medicare’s reimbursement system.

Investigators from multiple federal agencies participated in the case, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri handled the prosecution.

Health care fraud remains one of the largest sources of financial losses within federal insurance programs. Enforcement efforts increasingly focus on identifying telemarketing-driven medical equipment schemes and prosecuting medical professionals who approve fraudulent prescriptions or billing claims.

The sentencing of Roethle closes one branch of a broader fraud network that targeted Medicare through mass-produced medical equipment prescriptions and telemarketing operations designed to exploit elderly beneficiaries.

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