Policy & oversight
Florida Telehealth Owner Sentenced to 20 Years for 46 Million Dollar Medicare Fraud Scheme
Christopher Harwood ran a company called TelevisitMD that used aggressive telemarketing to bill Medicare for braces and genetic tests patients did not need. A federal judge handed him a 20-year prison term on October 23.
By the Goodsurance editorial teamOctober 24, 2026
Christopher Harwood, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced on October 23, 2026 to 20 years in federal prison for leading a Medicare fraud scheme tied to a telehealth company he owned called TelevisitMD, the Department of Justice announced.
Federal prosecutors said Harwood and his co-conspirators used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to contact Medicare patients and persuade them to accept orthotic braces and genetic tests they did not need. Doctors were paid to sign orders for those items without conducting meaningful evaluations of the patients. Over more than six years, the scheme generated approximately 46.2 million dollars in false claims submitted to Medicare, and the program paid roughly 17.9 million dollars of that total. Harwood personally profited more than 10.4 million dollars.
A Florida telehealth owner was sentenced to 20 years in prison for submitting 46 million dollars in fake Medicare claims for braces and tests patients did not need.
In March 2026, Harwood pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. At sentencing, a federal judge ordered him to pay 17,942,402 dollars in restitution to Medicare and to forfeit 10,431,463 dollars.
The case fits a pattern federal investigators have documented in multiple prosecutions over the past several years: a company solicits Medicare beneficiaries by phone, recruits compliant physicians to approve unnecessary equipment or tests, and bills the program for items patients never requested. The Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, established in April 2026, has reported an accelerated pace of health care fraud trials and convictions this year.
In plain words
A man in Florida ran a telehealth company called TelevisitMD. His name is Christopher Harwood. He had workers call Medicare patients on the phone. They tried to get patients to accept braces and genetic tests they did not need. He paid doctors to sign off on these items without really checking on the patients. His company sent about 46 million dollars in fake bills to Medicare. Medicare paid about 18 million dollars of that money. On October 23, 2026, a judge sentenced Harwood to 20 years in prison. The judge also told him to pay back almost 18 million dollars to Medicare.
Understand the basics first
Source: DOJ
Read at the source →