A Slidell physician has been sentenced after admitting he ordered medically unnecessary cancer‑genetic tests that prosecutors say drove millions in false Medicare claims. On April 9, U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe sentenced Dr. Robert Tassin to three years of probation, with the first 12 months to be served in home confinement, and barred him from participating in a health‑care business during the probation term. Federal filings and agency statements say the orders generated roughly $6.6 million in false claims, more than $2 million of which was reimbursed by Medicare.
What the court ordered
Judge Ashe ordered Tassin to pay $2,043,542.23 in restitution to Medicare, to forfeit $106,757 (which prosecutors say he paid the day of sentencing), and to pay a mandatory $100 special assessment, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The outcome is probationary rather than a multiyear prison term, but it comes with strict home‑confinement and employment restrictions that are meant to keep him away from vulnerable federal health‑care dollars. Trial attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Healthcare Fraud Section and the Eastern District prosecuted the case.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
According to the HHS Office of Inspector General, Tassin was working as an independent contractor for purported telemedicine companies when he electronically signed doctors’ orders for cancer‑genetic (CGx) tests for Medicare beneficiaries he never examined between February and September 2019. Investigators say those orders led to more than $6.6 million in false and fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare, with reimbursements exceeding $2 million. Tassin was paid a set fee per order, typically about $30, authorities say, and some medical records were falsified to make the tests look medically necessary.
Case timeline and local reporting
Tassin was criminally charged in March 2025 and pleaded guilty the following spring, and local outlets followed the case as it moved toward sentencing. As reported in coverage that tracked the plea, the guilty admission set the stage for the April 9 hearing where the court imposed probation and home confinement. Local reporting has placed the prosecution alongside a run of recent New Orleans‑area cases scrutinizing telemedicine and lab‑testing billing practices.
Federal anti‑fraud push
The Department of Justice has said the case is part of its work under the newly announced National Fraud Enforcement Division, an initiative aimed at targeting schemes that steal from federal benefit programs, per the department’s press release. Officials described the prosecution as an example of how telemedicine and remote review can be misused to generate automated orders and high volumes of billing without real medical oversight. Prosecutors credited the HHS Office of Inspector General with key investigative work in the matter.
Legal note
Tassin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health‑care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1347 and 1349, statutes that carry potential prison terms and fines, as described by federal authorities and the HHS Office of Inspector General. With restitution and forfeiture ordered, prosecutors said their priority at sentencing was to return funds to Medicare and to impose conditions that reduce the risk of similar conduct in the future.
