Podiatrist jailed for role in $8.5M fraud scheme

A court sentenced Texas podiatrist Brian Carpenter on Wednesday to more than three years in prison for fraudulently billing the U.S. military healthcare program TRICARE for medically unnecessary creams. Patient recruiter Jerry Lee Hawrylak, age 71, received five years in prison for his role in the scheme, the Department of Justice said Wednesday. A jury convicted the two in April 2023 for colluding to bill about $8.5 million worth of false prescriptions in about four years, according to the DOJ statement. A federal court in Texas also ordered the men to pay a total of $7 million in restitution for the yearslong fraud.

How did the pair falsely prescribe so much foot cream in a few years? Hawrylak coordinated the scheme from 2014-2017 by locating patients to be prescribed pain and scar creams they did not need. He had Carpenter call in the fraudulent prescriptions for patients he never treated or even contacted. The insurance claims were billed to TRICARE. Court proceedings showed that Carpenter’s orders were written in a way that allowed the pharmacy to change the prescription after it was filled to maximize the reimbursement from TRICARE, the DOJ said in a news release. Records in the podiatrist’s office listed fake addresses for patients being prescribed the creams, and showed that he allowed unlimited refills. The pair were convicted in April 2023 for seven federal charges related to healthcare fraud before their sentencing on Wednesday.

The men were two of nearly 60 people charged by the DOJ in 2019 during a sweeping investigation of healthcare fraud in Texas. Carpenter maintained a level of notoriety before his conviction. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the podiatrist to serve on the state's Podiatric Medical Examiners Advisory Board in 2017—a role for advising the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on the technicalities and regulations relevant to podiatry.