Jailed Doc Loses License Over Huge $5.7M Medicare Fraud

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WESTLAND, MI – A Westland osteopathic physician’s medical license has been suspended after he was convicted of felony health-care fraud in in U.S. District Court, state regulatory officials said Wednesday.

Dr. Laran Johnathon Lerner, D.O., was convicted in September in a more than $5.7 million scheme to defraud Medicare, according to a news release from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).

Lerner, who is serving a 45-month prison sentence on one count each of health-care fraud and structuring cash transactions to avoid bank reporting requirements, admitted in a written plea agreement that he billed Medicare $5,748,237 for unnecessary prescriptions, office visits and diagnostic testing.

He deposited the cash in $5,000 increments to avoid triggering a requirement under federal law that domestic banks file a report with the Secretary of Treasury for all transactions over $10,000, the government said.

At sentencing, Lerner was ordered to pay $2,789,409 in restitution.

State law provides for the summary suspension of a health-care professional’s license upon the conviction of a felony.