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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday announced federal and local criminal charges targeting 78 defendants across 16 states as part of a law enforcement action involving $2.5 billion in alleged healthcare fraud schemes targeting elderly and disabled people, HIV patients and even pregnant women.

The cases range from allegations of falsely billing the federal Medicare insurance program for elderly and disabled Americans and paying illegal kickbacks, to the illicit diversion of expensive prescription medications and the improper dispensing of highly addictive opioid pain killers.

Among those facing charges include 24 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, as well as healthcare executives including the current and former CEOs of a durable medical equipment online platform accused of falsely billing $1.9 billion in fraudulent claims.

Of the $2.5 billion in alleged fraudulent claims to Medicare, state Medicaid programs that serve the poor and supplemental Medicare insurance programs offered by private insurers, about $1.1 billion was actually paid out to the fraudsters, officials said.

“The Justice Department will find and bring to justice criminals who seek to defraud Americans and steal from taxpayer-funded programs,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

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On Friday, the Labor Department will update its Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) index, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure. The June employment report follows on July 7th.

So, here is where the major benchmarks ended, yesterday:

• The S&P 500 Index was down 1.55 points at 4,376.86; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 74.08 (0.2%) at 33,852.66; the NASDAQ Composite was up 36.08 points (0.3%) at 13,591.75.
• The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was down about 6 basis points at 3.71%.
• CBOEs Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.31 point at 13.43.

Regional banks and utilities were among the weakest sectors Wednesday, with the Philadelphia Utility Index (UTY) ending at its lowest level in nearly four weeks. Energy companies ranked among the top gainers as crude oil futures rose more than 2%.

• Insurer Travelers Companies fell 2.5% to become the day’s worst-performing Dow stock.
• Salesforce shares rose after Goldman Sachs said the company was poised to boost its profits.
• Intel shares fell after Oracle said its software would be compatible with Ampere Computing chips in a blow to Intel’s position with data center customers.

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Alerts Sign-Up, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Experts Invited, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: CBOE, DOW, health fraud, healthcare fraud charges, HIV, Intel, NASDAQ, oracle, Reuters, S&P 500, Salesforce, schemes fraud, Volatility Index |