Kansas Doctor Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for $8 Million Medicare Fraud

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Friday sentenced a Kansas anesthesiologist to three years in prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to order medically unnecessary health care for thousands of patients.

She also ordered Dr. Scott Taggart Roethle, 48, to pay restitution of $8.3 million.

From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Roethle played a central role in a massive telemarketing scheme that billed Medicare for medically unnecessary orthotic braces. Overseas call centers collected Medicare information from unsuspecting elderly patients. Doctors, including Dr. Roethle, signed fraudulent orthotic brace prescriptions without evaluating patients or their actual medical needs and while falsely claiming to be their treating physician and having examined and diagnosed them. The brace suppliers mailed out the braces and billing companies then submitted the fraudulent claims to Medicare. Dr. Roethle admitted providing no follow-up care after signing the orders.

Dr. Roethle was typically paid about $30 for each of his fraudulent orders and received a total of $674,000 from five companies for thousands of prescriptions. Medicare paid out at least $8 million while relying on his fraudulent orders.

"Dr. Roethle used his medical license to facilitate a scheme that exploited vulnerable Medicare patients and drained millions from a program meant to provide medically necessary care," said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ashley L. Collins of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). "By ordering expensive medical equipment without ever examining patients, he betrayed his professional responsibilities and violated the trust of his patients. Today's sentence demonstrates HHS-OIG's commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who put personal profit above patient safety and the integrity of federal health care programs."

Roethle, of the Kansas City area, pleaded guilty in April of 2025 to one count of health care fraud.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.