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TelevisitMD owner receives 20-year sentence; DOJ reports $46.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims

2 min read

Fictional editorial illustration reused from the Hugin archive; not documentary evidence or a depiction of the defendants, their equipment or an actual patient.

Christopher Harwood, who owned the telemedicine company TelevisitMD, was sentenced October 23 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to a health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, according to the Justice Department. DOJ says he caused $46.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims, of which Medicare paid $17.9 million. The court ordered restitution and forfeiture; the announcement does not establish amounts already recovered.

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The owner of TelevisitMD was sentenced October 23 to 20 years in prison for organizing a Medicare fraud conspiracy, according to the Justice Department. DOJ says Christopher Harwood caused $46.2 million in false and fraudulent claims over a scheme spanning more than six years.

The department's October 23 announcement, read October 25, reports the sentence after Harwood's March 2026 guilty plea to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.

The patients and the orders

According to DOJ's account of court documents, Harwood and his co-conspirators used telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare patients to accept orthotic braces and genetic tests they did not need.

The department says Harwood paid doctors to approve the orders. Those doctors did not follow Medicare's telemedicine rules or have real medical relationships with the patients, and often signed orders without meaningful interaction with them.

Harwood sold signed orders to medical-equipment suppliers, laboratories and marketers participating in the scheme, DOJ says. He also operated Florida medical-equipment companies that billed Medicare for braces patients did not want or need.

Claims, payments and court orders

The announcement distinguishes the $46.2 million in fraudulent claims from the $17.9 million Medicare paid on those claims. Those are different measures; the larger amount is not described as the amount Medicare paid.

DOJ says the court ordered Harwood to pay $17,942,402 in restitution to Medicare and $10,431,463 in forfeiture in addition to the prison term. The department also says he personally profited more than $10.4 million.

The announcement reports amounts ordered. It does not establish that the government has already collected them, or that money has been distributed to patients.

What this account covers

The FBI and the Health and Human Services inspector general investigated the case, according to DOJ. The department's release is the source for this report; the judgment, plea agreement and individual patient records were not separately examined.

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