Competition for the 2016 Nerve-of-a-Burglar Award was fierce, with health care providers constantly coming up with new and different ways to scam Medicare and Medicaid.  Nevertheless, we have a clear winner: the Michigan physician charged with an array of fraudulent Medicaid schemes that included ordering pregnancy tests for men.  That’s right: pregnancy tests for men.

On December 7 an Ingham County Circuit Court judge sentenced osteopath Chidozie Ononuju to five years’ probation and ordered him to pay over $400,000 in restitution after he pleaded guilty to three felony counts of Medicaid fraud.  Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette stated that in addition to ordering pregnancy tests for men or for women who had undergone hysterectomies, Ononuju required drug screening for all patients at all visits, in violation of Medicaid policy.

There was no word on the results of the male pregnancy tests, probably because of HIPAA privacy rules.

The case is State v. Ononuju, Mich. Cir. Ct., No. 16-2757.