A Missouri clinic owner pleaded guilty to scamming the Department of Veteran Affairs into paying for medical examinations administered by a disgraced doctor.   

David L. Biersmith, 80, of Kansas City pleaded guilty on April 20 to fraud and making false statements to a federal agency — forgoing his right to a grand jury — in federal district court for the for the Western District of Missouri.

Biersmith's Industrial Medical Center provided drug and DNA testing services, as well as physical examinations for commercial vehicle drivers in its Independence, Missouri, office, despite its owner not having a medical license or other medical credentials, officials said.

In April 2013, IMC secured a contract with Logistics Health, Inc., to provide disability examinations for veterans to determine the VA benefits. Biersmith used a licensed physician to conduct the early examinations, but when that physician left in July 2013, IMC employed Wayne W. Williamson, 74, of Kansas City to continue the work.

Officials said Williamson was formerly a physician, but lost his license in 2010 after pleading guilty to "health care fraud; conspiracy to distribute Oxycotin, Percocet and Xanax; and harassing or attempting to harass an investigator with the Missouri State Board of Healing Arts."

After serving a three-year sentence, Williamson became an occasional medical consultant for IMC, despite being banned from participating in Medicaid or Medicare due to his previous conviction.

Williamson admitted to investigators that he conducted the disability examinations, violating the VA’s contract with Logistics Health, Inc., and IMC billed the agency more than $39,000.

Logistics Health contacted the VA Office of the Inspector General in April 2014 to report the activity. The VA would later re-adjudicate all the suspect claims made by IMC, conducting re-examinations and claims reviews.

Williamson later pleaded guilty to an unrelated health fraud case in January 2017.

Biersmith also admitted to making false statements related to the drug and medical examinations of commercial vehicle drivers, violating Department of Transportation regulations.

The IMC owner told investigators in a signed affidavit that he "had only signed a ‘few’ physicals and only before, during or after an examination had been performed by a chiropractor."

Investigators later discovered that he signed the chiropractor’s name to 65 physicals, even when the chiropractor had not conducted the exam.

Biersmith could face up to 15 years in federal prison without parole.

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