A Fort Lauderdale telemedicine executive was sentenced to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme that funneled millions of dollars in bogus Medicare claims through his own company, pocketing more than $10 million for himself along the way. Christopher Harwood, owner of TelevisitMD, had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud after prosecutors said he paid doctors to sign off on medically unnecessary orthotic braces and genetic tests for patients they never properly examined.
According to WPEC, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that Harwood was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for a Medicare fraud scheme that generated more than $46 million in false claims. A Department of Justice release described the operation as a $46.2 million conspiracy that spanned more than six years, though the exact sentencing date and full text of that release could not be independently verified beyond a search snippet.
Per Arnold & Porter, Harwood and his telemedicine company targeted Medicare beneficiaries through aggressive telemarketing practices, then paid physicians to approve orders for braces and genetic tests without legitimate telehealth encounters or any meaningful patient relationship. Those signed orders were then sold to durable medical equipment suppliers and laboratories, including entities Harwood himself owned, which billed Medicare for the unnecessary items.
Millions Paid Out Before the Scheme Unraveled
The same report from Arnold & Porter states that Medicare ultimately paid approximately $17.9 million on the fraudulent claims generated by the scheme. Harwood personally received more than $10 million from the operation, the firm's account of the case notes.
Court filings referenced in the evidence identify Christopher Harwood as the defendant in an indictment dated June 10, 2025, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. A separate sentencing document states that, upon his release, Harwood is to serve three years of supervised release, though a full breakdown of any restitution, forfeiture, or additional fines imposed was not available in the reviewed records.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Telehealth Fraud
Harwood's case fits into a pattern federal watchdogs have flagged for years. The HHS Office of Inspector General has identified genetic-testing fraud schemes involving deceptive telemarketing as a recurring area of concern, noting that genetic tests can create serious risks of fraud, waste, and abuse within Medicare.
Other recent federal cases underscore the scale of the problem. In one case tracked by the HHS Office of Inspector General, a Florida man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy that billed over $67 million for medically unnecessary genetic testing. In a separate matter, the Justice Department reported that two men from Texas and Florida were sentenced to four years and two years, respectively, for leading a marketing company tied to a genetic-testing fraud scheme, while another Justice Department case resulted in sentences for two men involved in a scheme that submitted more than $522 million in fraudulent claims against Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers.
The identities and dispositions of any co-conspirators, physicians, suppliers, or laboratories tied to Harwood's scheme were not detailed in the available court records. Harwood's 20-year sentence stands as one of the longer prison terms handed down in this wave of telehealth-related Medicare fraud cases.
