Welcome to Federal Lawyers. We are a NYC based criminal defense firm that has spent over a decade defending healthcare professionals facing federal fraud charges. Our goal is to give you the information that other sites will not provide – the real sentencing data, the actual numbers from federal court, and the strategic realities that determine whether you lose your license or your freedom. If you are reading this because you just learned about healthcare fraud charges, you need to understand something that will immediately change how you think about your situation.
The statutory maximum for healthcare fraud under [18 USC 1347](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1347) is 10 years. Every charging document mentions it. Every prosecutor emphasizes it at every hearing. Every defendant with a medical license lies awake calculating what 10 years means for their career, their family, their life. But heres the truth that the [USSC sentencing data](https://www.ussc.gov/research/quick-facts/health-care-fraud) reveals: the average actual sentence for healthcare fraud in fiscal year 2024 was 27 months. Not 10 years – twenty-seven months. The statutory maximum is 4.4 times the average sentence actually imposed.
And heres the number thats even more revealing. Only 2.8% of healthcare fraud defendants faced mandatory minimum penalties at all. And of that tiny percentage, more than half were relieved of those minimums. The system isnt designed to imprison doctors for decades. Its designed to extract guilty pleas through fear of maximums that almost no one recieves.
When Billing Becomes Crime
Heres were most healthcare professionals make there first mistake. They think healthcare fraud requires intent to steal. It dosent. Under [18 USC 1347](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1347), the government only needs to prove you knowingly executed or attempted to execute a scheme to defraud a healthcare benefit program. The critical word is “scheme.” Prosecutors define scheme broadly – very broadly.
our lead attorney has defended physicians who provided legitimate medical care to real patients with genuine conditions. The patients got better. The insurance paid. Everyone seemed satisfied. Then years later, prosecutors reviewed the billing codes and decided the services werent “medically necessary.” That retroactive determination – made by lawyers, not doctors – transformed routine medical practice into federal healthcare fraud.
OK so heres the part that catches most doctors off guard. Medical necessity has no objective definition. Its not like a blood test were you either meet the threshold or you dont. Medical necessity is judgment – your clinical judgment as a physician. But prosecutors get to second-guess that judgment years after the fact, with hindsight, with cherry-picked expert witnesses, with unlimited resources to build there case. Your documented medical reasoning becomes evidence of a “scheme.”
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(212) 300-5196The ambiguity is the trap. Every doctor who bills insurance makes judgement calls about medical necessity. Every billing code involves interpretation. The line between aggressive billing and criminal fraud exists – but prosecutors draw that line, not physicians. And they draw it after reviewing your billing patterns, after identifing outliers, after decideing that you should have known better.
The Loss Table That Controls Everything
The [loss calculation under USSG 2B1.1](https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines/primers/loss-calculation) determines your sentence more then any other factor. More then your criminal history. More then the judges personal philosophy. More then your years of legitimate medical practice. The prosecutors number – the loss amount they calculate – is the most important number in your entire case.
Healthcare fraud starts with a base offense level of 7. Then the loss table adds levels:
Todd Spodek
Lead Attorney & Founder
Featured on Netflix's "Inventing Anna," Todd Spodek brings decades of high-stakes criminal defense experience. His aggressive approach has secured dismissals and acquittals in cases others deemed unwinnable.
You are a cardiologist whose billing manager submitted claims for cardiac catheterizations that were medically unnecessary on dozens of Medicare patients over a three-year period. Federal prosecutors have now indicted you under 18 USC 1347, and the loss amount they've calculated exceeds $2.4 million.
How will the federal sentencing guidelines calculate my potential prison time based on the loss amount and number of victims involved?
Under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines §2B1.1, a healthcare fraud conviction under 18 USC 1347 carries a base offense level of 7, but a $2.4 million loss amount adds 16 levels, immediately pushing you into a range that could mean 5-7 years even before other enhancements. The guidelines also add 2 levels if the offense involved 10 or more victims and up to 4 additional levels if you abused a position of trust as a licensed physician — enhancements that are almost always applied in physician fraud cases. However, a skilled defense attorney can challenge the government's loss calculation methodology, argue for application of the 2023 amendments that reduced certain economic crime sentences, and negotiate for a departure based on your medical career and community contributions. Early cooperation and a well-prepared sentencing memorandum documenting aberrant behavior can make the difference between a guidelines sentence and a significant downward variance.
This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.
- $6,500 or less: +0 levels
- $15,000 to $40,000: +4 levels
- $95,000 to $150,000: +8 levels
- $250,000 to $550,000: +12 levels
- $550,000 to $1,500,000: +14 levels
- $1,500,000 to $3,500,000: +16 levels
- $3,500,000 to $9,500,000: +18 levels
The cliff effects are absolutley brutal. Going from $549,999 to $550,001 – a difference of two dollars – triggers a 2-level increase. That can mean 6-12 additional months in prison. Two dollars. Half a year. Prosecutors know exactley were these cliffs are. There loss calculations almost allways land just above a threshold. The final number is never $540,000. Its $560,000. Never $1.4 million. Always $1.6 million.
And heres the calculation that destroys healthcare defendants who thought there billing was legitimate. Under the guidelines, loss includes “intended loss” – not just actual loss. What does this mean practicaly? Every allegedly fraudulent bill you ever submitted over years of practice gets added to the loss calculation. Even if patients recieved real care. Even if insurance actualy paid correctly. Even if no one complained. The prosecutors add up every questionable bill and call the total “intended loss.”
