Washington, D.C. — A Missouri man has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a wide-reaching health care fraud conspiracy that defrauded Medicare of tens of millions of dollars through a fraudulent genetic testing scheme.
Jamie P. McNamara, 49, of Kansas City, admitted in federal court to conspiring to bill over $174 million to Medicare through labs he operated in Louisiana and Texas, receiving more than $55 million in reimbursements for unnecessary and improperly ordered cancer and cardiovascular genetic tests.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, McNamara used aggressive telemarketing to target Medicare beneficiaries, convincing them to submit to genetic testing that was neither medically necessary nor authorized by their treating physicians. The scheme relied on telemedicine doctors who never interacted with the patients, failed to perform any evaluations, and did not follow up on the test results.
To perpetuate the fraud, McNamara paid illegal kickbacks and bribes, concealed the true ownership of his laboratories by listing family members as owners, and shifted billing between labs to evade detection. The fraudulent claims were submitted between early 2019 and mid-2020.
“The defendant used illegal payments and lies to fraudulently bill Medicare over $174 million,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. “Health care fraud harms patients, drains government resources, and violates the public trust.”
The scale of McNamara’s fraud led to the seizure of luxury vehicles and more than $7 million in bank assets. He later violated his pretrial release by fleeing a DUI arrest and removing his ankle monitor, which resulted in him being detained ahead of sentencing.
McNamara pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 9. A federal judge will determine the final sentence in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Officials emphasized the broader impact of schemes like McNamara’s.
“Misleading patients with fraudulent genetic testing schemes to exploit the Medicare program is not just unethical — it’s criminal,” said Christian J. Schrank, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations at HHS-OIG. “We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to investigate such schemes and bring those responsible to justice.”
