HealthSplash founder convicted in $1B brace scheme

WASHINGTON – A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida has convicted the founder and owner of HealthSplash for his role in operating a platform that generated false doctor orders and prescriptions to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs out of more than $1 billion, the Department of Justice has announced. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial:

• Brett Blackman, 42, of Johnson County, Kansas, and his co-conspirators aggressively targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to get them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other items. They then arranged for purported telemedicine doctors to sign bogus prescription orders for these items, so that their co-conspirators could bill Medicare for them.
• Blackman and his co-conspirators connected pharmacies, DME suppliers and marketers with telemedicine companies that would accept illegal kickbacks and bribes in exchange for signed doctor orders created using the DMERx platform. Blackman and his co-conspirators took a cut for themselves in exchange for the referrals. Blackman owned, controlled and was the CEO of HealthSplash, which acquired Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) in September 2017.
• The fraudulent doctor orders and prescriptions generated by DMERx falsely represented that a doctor had actually examined and treated the Medicare beneficiaries when, in fact, the doctors were simply paid to sign orders and prescriptions without any meaningful interaction with the beneficiary, and in some cases, no interaction at all. Doctors signed these orders and prescriptions without regard to whether the equipment was medically necessary.
• The DME suppliers and pharmacies that were paying illegal kickbacks for these orders billed Medicare and other insurers for more than $1 billion. Medicare and the other insurers paid more than $450 million based on these claims.

The jury convicted Blackman of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements in connection with health care matters. Blackman’s co-defendant, Gary Cox of DMERx, was convicted in a prior trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Blackman faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud conviction, five years for the conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks conviction, and five years for the conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements in connection with health care matters conviction. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 26, 2026.

Photo courtesy of the Department of Justice.