Program announcement
Maryland lab owner convicted in $18.7 million Medicare respiratory testing fraud
A federal jury in Maryland convicted Patrick Britton-Harr of health care fraud and money laundering over $18.7 million in Medicare billing through his company, Provista Health. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
On October 20, 2026, the Office of Public Affairs said a federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, of Annapolis, of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering. The release says each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and that a sentencing hearing will be scheduled later. 1 Source 1
According to the release, Britton-Harr offered COVID-19 tests to nursing homes in 2020 and then billed Medicare for separate respiratory pathogen panel tests purportedly performed at a laboratory he owned in Arizona, falsely claiming treating physicians had ordered them. The release says evidence at trial showed billing for tests that were never performed, including for residents who had already died, and for tests after the laboratory had closed. 1 Source 1
The release says that through his company, Provista Health, Britton-Harr billed Medicare $18.7 million for such testing over six months, of which Medicare paid more than $7.2 million. HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated the case. 1 Source 1