Skin Deep Fraud: Utah Podiatrist and Two Nurses Indicted for Allegedly Billing Medicare $44 Million for Unneeded Wound Care — Patients Didn’t Qualify, Co-pays Were Waived, and the Bills Kept Coming

A federal grand jury in St. George, Utah, has indicted a podiatrist and two nurses on charges of health care fraud and related offenses, alleging they fraudulently billed Medicare for medically unnecessary treatments and received millions of dollars in reimbursements.

Prosecutors say Ryan Scott Ellsworth, 47, of Highland, Utah, along with nurse practitioner Emily Kelly, 45, of Washington, Utah, and registered nurse Drake Dell Broadbent, 55, of Santa Clara, Utah, submitted false claims for skin substitute procedures between July 2021 and December 2025. The treatments were often not medically necessary and, in some cases, provided to patients who did not qualify under Medicare guidelines, according to the indictment.

Ellsworth owned and operated Summit Foot and Ankle, which has clinics across Utah, as well as Amble Medical in Highland. Kelly and Broadbent primarily worked at Summit’s St. George clinic.

Investigators allege the defendants billed Medicare for skin substitute treatments despite knowing such procedures are only covered when medically necessary and after at least 30 days of prior wound care. Authorities say the group routinely provided the treatments to patients without qualifying conditions and continued administering them even when no longer needed.

The indictment also alleges the defendants frequently failed to collect required copayments from Medicare beneficiaries, which in some cases would have amounted to thousands of dollars. Prosecutors further claim Ellsworth directed unqualified providers, including Broadbent, to perform procedures outside their professional scope and then submitted claims under his own provider number.

According to court documents, Ellsworth billed approximately $44 million to Medicare for skin substitute treatments, resulting in more than $19 million in payments. Kelly allegedly billed about $17 million, with Medicare paying more than $10 million on those claims.

All three defendants are charged with health care fraud and wire fraud. Ellsworth and Broadbent also face additional charges of making false statements related to health care matters.

Their initial court appearance is scheduled for June 8, 2026, in U.S. District Court in St. George.

Authorities emphasized that the charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

‘Consulting Fees’ for Fake Work: Boston-Area CFO Pleads Guilty to Paying $540K in Kickbacks to Surgeons Who Used His Spinal Implants — Taxpayers Footed the Bill as Patients Got Unnecessary Surgeries

The chief financial officer of a Boston-area spinal device company has pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to pay illegal kickbacks to surgeons in exchange for using the company’s products, federal prosecutors said.

Aditya Humad, 41, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute in U.S. District Court in Boston. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6, 2026, before Judge Indira Talwani.

Prosecutors said Humad, who worked for SpineFrontier Inc., a spinal implant company formerly based in Malden, conspired to pay more than $540,000 in bribes to surgeons. The payments were disguised as consulting fees for work that was either not performed or minimal in nature.

According to court documents, Humad and the company’s founder and former chief executive, Dr. Kingsley R. Chin, entered into agreements with surgeons that promised hourly consulting rates ranging from $250 to $1,000. In practice, prosecutors said, the payments were intended to induce surgeons to use SpineFrontier products in procedures billed to federal health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration.

Authorities said the consulting program was presented as a way to gather technical feedback on medical devices, but surgeons often performed little or no legitimate consulting work. In return for using the company’s products, SpineFrontier generated millions of dollars in revenue from the surgeries, prosecutors said.

As part of a related civil settlement, Humad has agreed to pay more than $150,000, including interest, with the possibility of additional payments tied to his future income.

The case is connected to earlier prosecutions involving company leadership and associates. Chin pleaded guilty in 2025 to making false statements to federal regulators and was later sentenced to one year of supervised release, including six months of home confinement, along with financial penalties.

In May 2025, Chin pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He was subsequently sentenced in August 2025 by Judge Talwani to one year of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement. Chin was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500 in addition to $40,000 he personally agreed to pay as part of a related civil settlement and $855,000 his wholly-owned company agreed to pay as part of the same settlement.
This plea also follows two guilty pleas in related criminal prosecutions. In August 2020, surgeon Jason Montone, D.O, 50, of Lawson, Miss., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and obstruction. Medical device distributor John Balzer, 48, of Lenexa, Kan., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and one count of witness tampering. Montone and Balzer are scheduled to be sentenced in September 2026.

Two other individuals, a surgeon and a medical device distributor, have also pleaded guilty in related cases and are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

Humad faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, along with potential fines, restitution and supervised release. Any sentence will be determined by the court based on federal guidelines.