The American Justice Department has dismantled a massive fraud scheme that targeted the country’s Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Some 324 individuals have been charged with submitting false claims in the amount of US$14.6 billion. It appears agencies from several foreign countries, among them Russia, ­Pakistan and some in Eastern Europe, were involved.

They purchased dozens of American medical supply firms, stole a million ­personal identities and ­submitted more than $10 billion in fraudulent claims.

Numerous cases were also ­uncovered where hospitals were carrying out ­needless skin grafts on dying patients, and billing for them.

In addition, several pharmacies were found to have manufactured massive quantities of oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol and sold them to ­street-level drug dealers, generating large profits for the pharmacies.

Healthcare officials are confident that fraud and theft on this scale could not happen in Canada. In........

© Times Colonist