HealthSplash Owner Brett Blackman Sentenced to 19 Years in $1 Billion 'Free Brace' Medicare Fraud

Published Oct. 19, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

If you are on Medicare and a caller has ever offered you a "free" back, knee or wrist brace, this case shows where those calls can lead. On Oct. 14, 2026, a federal judge sentenced Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, to 19 years in prison for running an online platform that generated false doctors' orders and prescriptions used to bill Medicare and other federal health programs more than $1 billion, the Justice Department said [1].

Medicare was billed for orthotic braces for more than 346,000 beneficiaries, an average of four braces each. More than 1,200 people had at least 21 braces billed in their names [1].

Status: Blackman was convicted by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida (the Justice Department announced the verdict May 14, 2026) and has now been sentenced. His restitution and forfeiture will be set later [1][2].

How the scheme worked

According to court documents and trial evidence summarized by the Justice Department [1][2]:

1. The pitch. Marketers, including foreign call centers and spam mailers, targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to get them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other items.
2. The rubber-stamp "doctor." Purported telemedicine doctors were paid to sign orders and prescriptions for those items "without any meaningful interaction with the beneficiary, and in some cases, no interaction at all."
3. The software. Blackman owned and ran HealthSplash, which bought Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) in September 2017. DMERx was an internet platform that generated the false doctors' orders. Blackman and others connected pharmacies, medical-equipment suppliers and marketers with telemedicine companies that took illegal kickbacks and bribes for signed orders, and took a cut for themselves.
4. The billing. Equipment suppliers and pharmacies paying those kickbacks billed Medicare and other insurers more than $1 billion. Medicare and the other insurers paid more than $450 million.
5. The cover-up. Prosecutors said the group used sham contracts and edited the doctors' orders to avoid Medicare audits, including by removing references to telemedicine.

At trial, an undercover agent posing as a Medicare beneficiary showed how it worked: a foreign call center pushed the "patient" to accept multiple braces, and a doctor signed orders through DMERx claiming to have done tests that can only be performed in person, though the doctor "never even spoke with the undercover agent 'patient,'" the department said [1].

"The defendant's fraud scheme lured hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled Americans into a sophisticated international telemarketing system with one goal: stealing as much as possible from the Medicare trust fund," said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald [1].

Why "free" equipment isn't free

The government's case centers on what was billed to Medicare and other federal programs, which is ultimately paid with public money. For beneficiaries, the claims are made under their own Medicare numbers, so equipment they never needed can show up in their claims records. Medicare's own guidance warns beneficiaries not to "accept offers of money or gifts for free medical care" and not to give their Medicare number to anyone except their doctor or others who should have it [3].

The people convicted

Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, founder, owner and CEO of HealthSplash. A jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and make false statements in health care matters. He was sentenced Oct. 14, 2026, to 19 years in prison [1][2]. The Justice Department's October release describes a 23-day trial ending in April 2026; its May 14 release announced the guilty verdict.

Gary Cox, Blackman's co-defendant, was convicted in an earlier trial and sentenced in December 2025 to 15 years in prison [1][2]. His age and city were not given in the releases we reviewed.

HHS-OIG, the FBI, VA-OIG and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service investigated. The Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section prosecuted the case [1].

Red flags

• An unsolicited call, text, ad or mailer offering a free brace, test kit, pain cream or other equipment "covered by Medicare."
• A "doctor" who approves equipment by phone without examining you, or whom you never speak to at all.
• Requests to "confirm" your Medicare number to receive a free item.
• Boxes of braces or supplies you didn't order showing up at your door.
• Medicare statements listing equipment you never got or never needed.

What to do

1. Hang up on unsolicited medical-equipment offers. Medicare says it "will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home" [3].
2. Check your claims. Compare your Medicare statements with your own records, or set up a Medicare.gov account to see claims as they're processed [3].
3. Report suspected fraud to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) [3] or to the HHS Office of Inspector General [4].
4. Refuse or return unordered equipment, and tell Medicare about it.
5. Help an older relative set up a simple rule: no medical decisions or Medicare numbers over an unsolicited phone call.

Case status (as of Oct. 19, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 19, 2026	Source
Brett Blackman, 43, Johnson County, Kan. (HealthSplash / DMERx)	Federal, S.D. Fla.	Convicted by jury (verdict announced May 14, 2026) of health care/wire fraud, kickback and false-statement conspiracies; sentenced Oct. 14, 2026, to 19 years; restitution and forfeiture to be set later	[1], [2]
Gary Cox	Federal, S.D. Fla.	Convicted at an earlier trial; sentenced December 2025 to 15 years	[1], [2]

Statuses can change, including on appeal.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Owner of Health Care Software Company Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison for $1B Medicare Fraud," Oct. 15, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-health-care-software-company-sentenced-19-years-prison-1b-medicare-fraud
2. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Owner of Health Care Software Company Convicted of 1 Billion Dollar Medicare Fraud Conspiracy," May 14, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-health-care-software-company-convicted-1-billion-dollar-medicare-fraud-conspiracy
3. Medicare.gov, "Reporting Medicare fraud & abuse" (accessed Oct. 19, 2026). https://www.medicare.gov/basics/reporting-medicare-fraud-and-abuse
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, "Report Fraud" (accessed Oct. 19, 2026). https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/

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