FORT WORTH, Texas — A North Texas physician's assistant was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Tuesday after being indicted on multiple counts of healthcare fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ray Anthony Shoulders, 37, was tried for submitting $788,000 in fraudulent medical claims and receiving more than $614,000 in Medicare reimbursements, federal officials say.
Shoulders, who worked as a physician's assistant at a Fort Worth clinic, would inject patients' connective tissue with amniotic fluid in an attempt to relieve joint pain, officials say.
The FDA has issued repeated consumer alerts warning that biologics like amniotic fluid “have not been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain,” nor for “chronic pain or fatigue.
Because the treatments are not FDA approved, Medicare does not reimburse for them.
According to the DOJ, Shoulders initially asked patients to pay out of pocket more than $800 per injection, but due to the high cost and questionable efficacy, many patients refused.
Shoulders used a product called "Cell Genuity", which was not covered by Medicare, officials say. In 2020, he spoke with a sales rep about another product called "Fluid Flow", which is covered by Medicare in certain circumstances, according to officials.
Fluid Flow was significantly more expensive than Cell Genuity, so Shoulder continued to use the latter product. However, the DOJ says he billed patients' shots to Medicare under Fluid Flow's unique code.
The DOJ says the clinic profited around $1,200 per shot injected--three times the amount they would have made using Fluid Flow.
"From August to October 2020, the clinic submitted more than 100 bills for Fluid Flow to Medicare and received around $400,000 in reimbursements," a release from the DOJ says. "Mr. Shoulders then received a cut of those reimbursements totaling over $200,000."
In November 2020, Shoulders stopped the scheme, but in October 2021, he restarted it.
Ray Shoulders was indicted in July 2023. A jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and 12 counts of healthcare fraud in January 2024.
He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means, who also ordered Shoulders to pay $614,235 in restitution.
