Whitefish physician charged in multi-million-dollar Medicare billing fraud case

A Whitefish physician was charged Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly helping facilitate about $39 million in fraudulent billing of Medicare and other federal benefits programs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ronald David Dean entered into a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which he agreed to help the government continue its investigation into the fraud, according to federal court documents, and as part of the agreement will have to pay back around $780,500 in restitution to the Medicare program and two other federal programs.

According to a criminal charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dean would sign prescriptions and other documents for medical devices and Covid-19 tests for people who did not need them. In turn, two unnamed people running different telemedicine companies incorporated in Florida then billed the federal government for the costs. Dean would then receive payments as part of a kickback scheme, according to the documents.