Trials
A federal judge sentenced Brett Blackman to 19 years in a Medicare brace scheme that billed more than $1 billion.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, that Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in federal prison. He was the chief executive and owner of HealthSplash, which acquired the DMERx platform in September 2017. A jury convicted him in April. The department said Medicare and other federal health programs were billed more than $1 billion, and that restitution and forfeiture will be set later.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
Nineteen years is the prison term a court imposed after a jury conviction. It is not a charge still waiting on a verdict. Blackman was convicted in April 2026 on conspiracy counts tied to false doctors' orders. The Justice Department said the amount billed was more than $1 billion and the amount insurers paid was more than $450 million. Restitution and forfeiture are still open. The prison term is not.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, that Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in federal prison. The sentence is for his role in a platform that generated false doctors' orders and prescriptions used to bill Medicare and other federal health programs. Nineteen years is the term the court imposed after his conviction. It is not a pending charge.
Blackman was the chief executive and owner of HealthSplash, the department said. HealthSplash acquired Power Mobility Doctor Rx LLC, known as DMERx, in September 2017. DMERx is the platform at the center of the case.
The department said the scheme targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries for medically unnecessary orthotic braces and similar items. Telemedicine doctors signed bogus orders. Durable medical equipment suppliers and pharmacies then billed more than $1 billion. Insurers paid more than $450 million. The billed figure and the paid figure are not the same number.
Medicare was billed for braces for more than 346,000 beneficiaries, at an average of about four braces each, the department said. More than 1,200 beneficiaries were billed for at least 21 orthotics through DMERx.
A jury convicted Blackman after a 23-day trial that ended in April 2026, the department said. The counts of conviction were conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements in health care matters. Co-defendant Gary Cox was sentenced in December 2025 to 15 years. That is Cox's sentence, separate from the 19-year term imposed on Blackman.
The department said restitution and forfeiture will be determined later. It said the case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and prosecuted by the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, Health Care Fraud Section. The prison term is the judgment entered after the April conviction. The money judgment is still ahead. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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