On April 10, Virginia-based nurse practitioner Daphne Jenkins was sentenced to prison for her participation in a $7.8 million telemedicine fraud scheme that involved medically unnecessary orders for durable medical equipment (DME). As part of the scheme, Medicare claims were submitted based on false documentation and tainted by kickbacks.

The orders Jenkins signed were pre-populated by telemarketing companies that contacted Medicare beneficiaries to solicit their information. She signed the orders through DocuSign without having established any provider-patient relationship with the beneficiaries and often without even having read the orders. Once the orders were signed, the telemarketing company sold them to DME suppliers, which then submitted the claims to Medicare for payment.

Jenkins was sentenced to 18 months in jail followed by two years of supervised release, with the first year to be served in home confinement. She was also ordered to pay almost $4 million in restitution.