Texas doctor charged in $89M healthcare fraud scheme

The Justice Department has charged a Texas doctor, Jason Finkelstein, 53, in an $89 million healthcare fraud scheme. Prosecutors allege Finkelstein billed insurers for medically unnecessary cardiovascular screening tests for college student-athletes and falsely certified the results as normal without proper review, even when abnormalities were detected. The scheme, which ran from 2019 to the end of last year, allegedly involved deceptive marketing tactics and kickbacks to athletic trainers and school officials to refer patients.

This prosecution is part of a broader nationwide crackdown on healthcare fraud that the Justice Department intends to highlight. Officials stated that Finkelstein’s alleged conduct, which included poor medical performance that put patients at risk, represents the type of sophisticated scheme prosecutors are working to disrupt. Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, called the doctor's alleged actions "heinous," emphasizing that healthcare fraud can steal lives.

Finkelstein, who is licensed in all 48 contiguous states, allegedly submitted phony diagnoses to insurers to secure reimbursement for tests that were not medically necessary. His company reportedly used sonographers lacking requisite credentials to perform tests across the country. In one instance in 2024, Finkelstein allegedly certified approximately 63 test result images of one patient after about 11 seconds, despite the results revealing multiple cardiac abnormalities. The patient later died. Finkelstein pleaded not guilty to charges of healthcare fraud and conspiracy.