Quality & complianceOfficial

New York doctor indicted over alleged $6.8M Medicare fraud involving phantom consultations and orthotic braces

🇺🇸 HHS OIG · Fri 13 Nov 2026

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has charged Dr Edgard Salazar with conspiring to bill Medicare for consultations that never took place and unwanted braces.

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has returned an indictment against Dr Edgard Salazar, 57, of Armonk, New York, in an alleged $6.8m Medicare fraud scheme. The HHS Office of Inspector General reported the case, which was announced by the US Department of Justice.

According to the source, Dr Salazar is charged with conspiring to bill Medicare for thousands of consultations that never occurred. The indictment also covers millions of dollars of orthotic braces that Medicare patients did not want or need.

The Justice Department action is dated 12 November 2026 and is categorised as both criminal and civil. The source gives no further detail on how the scheme operated, on any co-conspirators, on the penalties faced or on the next steps in court.

The charges are allegations arising from an indictment. The source does not report any plea, verdict or sentence.

What it means for your team

  • This is an enforcement action against an individual provider, not a change in regulatory requirements; no new obligations for industry arise from the source.
  • Compliance teams may treat it as a reminder of continued federal scrutiny of billing for services not rendered and medically unnecessary equipment.
  • Organisations working with prescribers or providers in US federal healthcare programmes may wish to check that their existing monitoring and escalation processes cover billing-integrity concerns.

Official source: HHS OIG ↗

Article written by VigiEye from the official source (HHS OIG). AI-assisted; check the source before acting.

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