Shifted Ownership | Texas | Medicare Fraud

Jamie P. McNamara operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas that sold genetic testing services. Theoretically, he was offering DNA testing for better health to patients, but McNamara was actually stealing millions of dollars from the U.S. taxpayer in a scheme that preyed on vulnerable Americans concerned about their health.

McNamara obtained the doctors’ orders necessary for him to file false claims to Medicare from telemarketers and call centers that used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare beneficiaries into receiving genetic testing that did not need them. Because in the end the tests would not provide them with any answers on their predisposition to life threatening illnesses. These orders for genetic testing were signed by purported telemedicine doctors who were not beneficiaries treating physicians, did not perform consultations with the beneficiaries, and did not follow up with the beneficiaries after the testing was performed.

To dodge detection of his fraudulent claims, McNamara shifted the billing between his laboratories dodge detection so that Medicare systems wouldn’t flag the egregious number of claims filed. But billing wasn’t the only thing that McNamara shifted. He shifted the ownership of his businesses as well. McNamara concealed his ownership and control of the laboratories, and thus his involvement in fraud, by falsely listing the names of his family members as owners and company representatives on Medicare and other documents. McNamara’s labs submitted over $174 million in claims to Medicare for genetic testing and received over $55 million in reimbursements.

On May 29, 2025, McNamara pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Great job with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General in this case.

Today’s Fraud of the Day is based on article “KCMO man pleads guilty in multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme” published by FOX4KC News on May 29, 2025.

The United States Department of Justice says that a man from Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty in court for his role in a multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme. The DOJ says that 49-year-old Jamie McNamara operated several labs in Louisiana and Texas.

He used those labs to get doctors’ orders for genetic testing, which would then be used in aggressive telemarketing campaigns to talk Medicare beneficiaries into receiving said testing. However, the orders for the tests were signed by telemedicine doctors who weren’t the beneficiaries’ physicians, did not consult with the patients and did not follow up with them after the tests.