On October 20, 2020, Shanelyn Kennedy, a medical assistant from Scranton, Pennsylvania, pled guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the anti-kickback statute. By admitting involvement, Kennedy admitted to participating in a conspiracy to receive bribes and kickbacks in exchange for ordering genetic tests.
Kennedy worked as a medical assistant in the office of Yitzachok Kurtzer, a primary care physician. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), from at least the fall of 2018 onward, Kurtzer and his office manager wife, Robin Kurtzer, accepted monthly cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for collecting DNA samples from Medicare patients and sending them for genetic screening tests to clinical laboratories in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The kickbacks ranged in value up to $5,000, and were typically accepted in cash at one of Kurtzer’s offices, at times behind locked doors.
According to Daniel Shim, an investigator with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kurtzer’s entered into an agreement with an unnamed individual to steer genetic tests for Medicare patients to a specific laboratory. In exchange for those genetic tests being sent to a specific lab, the individual would pay the Kurtzer’s approximately $2,000/month – up from the original proposed price of between $1,000 and $1,500 per month.
In Summer 2019, the unnamed individual did not pay any kickbacks or bribes to Kurtzer, and, in turn, the volume of genetic tests sent to the laboratory by Kurtzer and his staff was reduced. On July 23, 2019, one of the employees texted the unnamed individual, “Doc [Kurtzer] wants to know if our agreement is over?” The unnamed individual responded, indicating that they planned to visit Kurtzer in the coming week and that the agreement was “continuing.”
Following that text exchange, the unnamed individual did visit Kurtzer in person, where Kurtzer explained that the volume of genetic tests had decreased because the unnamed individual had “disappeared.” The individual acknowledged they did not work the last two months and handed Kurtzer $2,000 in cash.
In November 2019, the unnamed individual delivered $3,000 in cash in exchange for genetic test referrals to Kurtzer and later that day, the unnamed individual told Kennedy about that cash delivery.
Then, in December 2019, Kennedy texted the unnamed individual (and the other medical assistant) whether the unnamed individual was “coming this month” to see them because she was “relying on that money for the holidays.” The unnamed individual said they were not coming because of a lack of volume in November 2019, which led to a lack of money to pay in kickbacks and bribes.
In January 2019, the unnamed individual brought $3,500 in cash for the Kurtzer’s and an additional $500 in cash for Kennedy and Harris to split. Kennedy was out that day, but Harris accepted it for both of them, split the month, and several days later, Kennedy texted the unnamed individual, “thank you for the money[.]”
From that point on, through at least April 2020, Kennedy became increasingly involved in the deals, texting the unnamed individual on multiple occasions relating to the pending money and the status of referrals.
The DOJ alleged that even as the COVID-19 pandemic “substantially reduced in-patient visits,” the Kurtzer’s continued with their scheme, switching from receiving hand-delivered cash kickbacks to accepting payments via wire and money-transfer applications.
In addition to Kennedy’s involvement, another employee – Amber Harris – also participated in the scheme, both helping to collect the DNA swabs in exchange for the cash/wire transfer kickbacks and bribes.
As a result of the scheme, Medicare paid a total of $755,241 for genetic tests from Kurtzer’s practice.
As indicated above, Kennedy is the second defendant to plead guilty in bribery and kickback schemes involving in doctors and medical employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area. The DOJ also made sure to note that the allegations against the Kurtzer’s are just allegations at this stage and “those defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”