A Louisiana nurse practitioner received an 87-month prison sentence on Wednesday, June 17, for her role in a scheme that led to more than $12 million in false claims to Medicare for cancer genetic tests that doctors said were not medically necessary.
Scharmaine Lawson Baker, 59, of Fulshear, Texas, will also pay $1,508,868.25 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.
A federal jury convicted her on six counts of health care fraud following a three-day trial in July 2025.
How the $12 Million Scheme Operated
Baker, a licensed nurse practitioner who was enrolled as a Medicare provider, worked as an independent contractor for a telehealth company between October 2018 and October 2019.
Prosecutors said she signed hundreds of orders for expensive genetic tests after very short phone calls with patients, often lasting less than 30 seconds, and without ever examining them in person.
Court documents show she received tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks for the orders.
Short Telehealth Calls Led to Hundreds of Test Orders
In one recorded phone call played at trial, a telehealth company operator told Baker she would be “rolling in money” by signing the orders. Baker replied, “Honey, I am not complaining.”
Evidence presented in court also revealed that Baker ordered ovarian and cervical cancer tests for male patients.
She did not review any of the test results, even when they showed genetic variants that could increase cancer risk for those patients.
The laboratories involved in the scheme received more than $1.5 million in Medicare payments for the tests Baker ordered.
Prosecutors Detail Kickbacks and False Claims
Prosecutors described her actions as treating patients like rubber stamps to generate payments rather than providing legitimate medical care.
Baker had positioned herself publicly as an authority on Medicare rules. She wrote books about medical necessity and proper patient-provider relationships, even as she violated those standards in the scheme, according to trial evidence.
She also failed to report the kickback payments in her bankruptcy filing.
The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
Trial attorneys from the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana handled the prosecution.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows of HHS-OIG, and Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office announced the sentencing.
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On April 7, the Justice Department announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which focuses on cases that harm federal programs and American taxpayers.
The effort supports the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.
The Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, which operates in multiple districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants since 2007.
Those cases involved more than $45 billion in billings to federal health programs and private insurers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has also stepped up efforts to hold providers accountable for participating in fraud schemes.
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Prosecutors emphasized at trial that Baker’s quick phone calls did not meet the requirements for establishing medical necessity under Medicare rules.
Ordering tests for conditions that patients could not have, such as female-specific cancers for men, further showed the orders were not based on clinical judgment.
DOJ, FBI, and HHS-OIG Continue Targeting Telehealth Fraud
Similar telehealth and genetic testing schemes that were common during and after the COVID-19 period, when remote care exploded, are still being investigated by federal agencies.
Officials say close coordination between HHS-OIG, the FBI, and prosecutors helps catch these patterns before losses grow larger.
Baker remains in custody pending transfer to a federal prison.
