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SALT LAKE CITY — The former owner of a Salt Lake City medical supply company faces criminal charges for allegedly filing $20 million in false Medicare claims for motorized wheelchairs.
A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted Jacob J. Kilgore, 34, of Fruit Heights, on three counts each of health care fraud, false statements relating to health care matters and wire fraud. He is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 21.
Kilgore was co-owner and vice president of Orbit Medical Inc., a medical equipment supplier specializing in power wheelchairs. Court documents allege he and others falsified medical records — including prescriptions and chart notes from doctors — to make it look like patients qualified for wheelchairs when they did not. They used the falsified documents to file claims with Medicare, federal prosecutors say.
Orbit billed Medicare for $20 million from October 2006 to June 2011, collecting $15 million in payments, according to the indictment.
Three Orbit sales representatives have already pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. David Evans, 29, of South Jordan; Morgan Workman, 35, of Farmington; and Hunter Hartman, 29, of Ladera Ranch, Calif., await sentencing.
