US District Judge Catherine D. Perry sentenced a Kansas anesthesiologist to three years in prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to order medically unnecessary healthcare for thousands of patients. She also ordered Dr. Scott Taggart Roethle, 48, to pay restitution of $8.3 million. From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Roethle played a central role in a massive telemarketing scheme that billed Medicare for medically unnecessary orthotic braces. Overseas call centers collected Medicare information from unsuspecting elderly patients. Doctors, including Dr. Roethle, signed fraudulent orthotic brace prescriptions without evaluating patients or their actual medical needs and while falsely claiming to be their treating physician and having examined and diagnosed them. The brace suppliers mailed out the braces and billing companies then submitted the fraudulent claims to Medicare. Dr. Roethle admitted providing no follow-up care after signing the orders. Dr. Roethle was typically paid about $30 for each of his fraudulent orders and received a total of $674,000 from five companies for thousands of prescriptions. Medicare paid out at least $8 million while relying on his fraudulent orders.