Grand jury indicts doctor for conspiring to and participating in a nationwide health-care fraud

ST. LOUIS – On August 18, 2021, a federal grand jury issued a twenty-five count indictment against Scott Taggart Roethle, M.D., an anesthesiologist residing in Kansas, charging Dr. Roethle with conspiring to and participating in a nationwide health-care fraud.  At the time Dr. Roethe allegedly committed these offenses, he was licensed to practice medicine in 22 states.    

The indictment alleges the following: that beginning in 2017 and continuing until at least 2020, multiple telemedicine and marketing companies paid Dr. Roethle illegal kickbacks, totaling $674,026, to sign prescriptions and orders for orthotics, genetic tests, and topical creams. Dr. Roethle was typically paid $30 for each order or prescription he signed. The marketing and telemedicine companies solicited patients through the media and cold calls and then electronically transmitted patient information to Dr. Roethle through an electronic portal. In almost all instances, Dr. Roethle had no contact with the patients and did not determine if they needed the items or services before he signed the orders.  Patients often complained to Dr. Roethle that they did not want or need the items he had ordered for them.

Roethle obtained medical licenses in 22 states and signed orders for thousands of patients residing in these states. Medicare Part B suffered a loss of over $26 million based on fraudulent prescriptions and orders signed by Dr. Roethle.

Charges set forth in the indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Inspector General), United States Department of Defense (Office of the Inspector General) are investigating this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dorothy L. McMurtry and Derek Wiseman.

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