NEOMED Grad Took Risk to Expose Medicare Fraud
Feb. 19, 2019
More than a decade ago, a Northeast Ohio Medical University graduate took a risk by setting out to expose alleged Medicare fraud.
A recent New Yorker article tells the story of Darren Sewell, M.D., a graduate of the Class of 1999.
According to the article, in the early 2000s, while Dr. Sewell served as a vice president at a health-insurance company, he discovered the company was cheating the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars. From “lemon-dropping” to “cherry-picking,” the company was intentionally seeking out patients that would bring them the most money.
For more than a year, Dr. Sewell doubled as an employee for the company and an undercover agent for the F.B.I. In 2014, he suffered a head injury after an accidental fall and doctors later found a blot in his brain. He died before the case was settled.
In 2017, seven years after Dr. Sewell filed his first claim, the company settled charges and an award was paid to Dr. Sewell’s estate and attorneys.