Annapolis Lab Owner Patrick Britton-Harr Convicted in $18.7 Million Nursing Home Medicare Testing Fraud

Published Oct. 21, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

In 2020, nursing homes across the country needed COVID-19 tests and couldn't get enough of them. According to federal prosecutors, a Maryland laboratory owner offered that testing, and then quietly billed Medicare for a second, far more expensive test each time a COVID-19 test was performed: a respiratory panel that doctors had not ordered and that, in many cases, was never run.

A federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, of Annapolis, on Oct. 19, 2026, of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering, the Justice Department announced the next day [1]. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count. A sentencing date has not been set, and a federal judge will determine any sentence [1].

Status: Convicted at trial; awaiting sentencing. A conviction can be appealed.

How the scheme worked

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, as summarized by the Justice Department [1]:

1. The offer. In 2020, Britton-Harr offered COVID-19 tests to nursing homes across the country "when these facilities were desperate for COVID-19 testing services."
2. The add-on. After specimens were collected from residents and other laboratories performed the COVID-19 testing, Britton-Harr billed Medicare for separate, high-priced respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests, which screen for more than 30 respiratory pathogens, supposedly performed at a laboratory he owned in Arizona.
3. The false orders. He falsely told Medicare that treating physicians had ordered the RPP tests. Several physicians testified that they had never ordered an RPP test for any patient during their entire careers.
4. The billing machine. Prosecutors said Britton-Harr directed inexperienced employees, including a family member and high school and college-aged interns, to bill Medicare for an RPP test every time a COVID-19 test was performed.
5. Tests that couldn't have happened. He directed billing for RPP tests at the Arizona lab after he had closed it, barred staff from working there, and no longer had the equipment to run the tests. Evidence also showed billing for tests never performed, including tests for nursing home residents who had already died.

Through his company, Provista Health, Britton-Harr billed Medicare $18.7 million for RPP testing supposedly performed in just six months, and Medicare paid more than $7.2 million, prosecutors said [1].

According to the release, he used the proceeds to buy a $112,500 Porsche 911 and to make $25,000 monthly mortgage payments on an Annapolis waterfront home [1].

The defendant

Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, Annapolis, Maryland. Owner of Provista Health. Convicted by a jury of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering [1].

"Mr. Britton-Harr's decision to exploit elderly nursing‑home residents and inexperienced interns for personal gain during a global pandemic is unconscionable," said U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland [1].

FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul said in the release that Britton-Harr "was previously convicted for investment fraud in which the FBI uncovered a separate scheme where he defrauded private citizens." The release does not give details of that earlier case, and we have not independently reviewed its records [1].

HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated. Trial Attorney Chris Wenger of the Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Evans prosecuted the case [1].

Why it matters even if you weren't billed directly

Nursing home residents in a case like this usually never see a bill. Medicare pays the claim, and the fraud shows up only on a Medicare Summary Notice or in a claims history that many residents, or their families, never check. That is why false billing can run for months.

Families who manage paperwork for a relative in long-term care are often the only people in a position to notice.

Red flags

• Lab tests on a Medicare statement that no doctor discussed, especially large panels billed alongside a routine test.
• Charges dated after a facility stopped using a provider, or after a patient was discharged or died.
• A lab or supplier you've never heard of appearing on the statement for a resident who never left the facility.
• Repeated identical charges on the same dates as routine testing.

What to do

1. Check Medicare statements and claims regularly. Medicare advises comparing "the dates and services on your calendar with the Medicare statements you get to make sure you got each service listed and that all the details are correct" [2].
2. Set up a Medicare.gov account to view Original Medicare claims as soon as they're processed [2].
3. Report suspected fraud to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or online through Medicare [2].
4. File a tip with the HHS Office of Inspector General, which accepts complaints about fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and other HHS programs. HHS-OIG says investigations are most successful when you include names, a narrative and supporting documents such as billing records [3].
5. Ask the nursing home which labs it uses, and raise questions with the facility's administrator if a statement doesn't match.

Case status (as of Oct. 21, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 21, 2026	Source
Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, Annapolis (Provista Health)	Federal, D. Md.	Convicted by jury Oct. 19, 2026, on five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering; sentencing date not yet set	[1]

Statuses can change. A conviction may be appealed.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Maryland Man Convicted of $18.7M Medicare Fraud for Respiratory Testing Scheme Targeting Nursing Homes," Oct. 20, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/maryland-man-convicted-187m-medicare-fraud-respiratory-testing-scheme-targeting-nursing
2. Medicare.gov, "Reporting Medicare fraud & abuse" (accessed Oct. 21, 2026). https://www.medicare.gov/basics/reporting-medicare-fraud-and-abuse
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, "Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" (accessed Oct. 21, 2026). https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/

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