Local podiatrist charged in $3.8M healthcare fraud scheme

Podiatrist Marion Shaun Lund of The Foot Doctor in Oxford was arrested Friday, July 15, on several charges of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. A federal jury issued a nine-count indictment on Lund, who was accused of being involved with a $3.8 million healthcare fraud scheme: seven counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and healthcare benefit programs including Medicare and TRICARE. Lund owned, operated and managed

The Foot Doctor, a clinic that specializes in the treatment of diabetic foot care and routine foot pain. He is the primary doctor at the clinic. According to court documents, Lund and his co-conspirators allegedly fraudulently formulated, prescribed, dispensed and billed insurance companies, including Medicare and TRICARE, for footbath medications used and dispensed to patients. Podiatrists prescribed the footbaths to treat fungal, bacterial or other types of foot infections. Patients were given antibiotics and antifungal drugs along with a plastic foot tub and instructed to mix the medications at home with warm water. The documents say medications selected for the footbaths did not require authorization by Medicare to prescribe them and the majority of the drugs did not have limitations on how many could be ordered in a single prescription. According to the court filings, Lund would routinely prescribe footbaths with ketoconazole, an antifungal cream. The cream was

prescribed in large amounts and to be mixed with warm water despite the cream not being water-soluble. Court documents state that even if Lund's patients had no documented open wounds or infections, Lund would still prescribe the footbath medications. Lund and his co-conspirators were also accused of using patients' biological specimens, such as toenails, and performing unnecessary medical diagnostic procedures. Documents state Lund sold signed doctors' orders along with the biological specimens to a diagnostic laboratory which would perform unnecessary testing and submit false and fraudulent claims to the healthcare benefit programs. Documents also report that Logan Hunter Power of Power Medical, LLC. recruited practitioners like Lund to write prescriptions for the medicated foot baths and other medications and recruited practitioners to submit orders and specimens to diagnostic labs through his company. Lund reportedly acknowledged the unnecessary diagnostic testing when he told Power, "I am sending samples on every fungal or dystrophic nail." Documents showed evidence that Lund may have knowingly submitted samples for reimbursement. On February 12, 2018, Power texted Lund, "You got a little something from your samples." Lund responded, "Yeah, they sent me a thing saying I was getting a hundred bucks." Power

replied back with, "That was for one sample FYI." On December 5, 2018, Power texted Lund, "Dude give me one month of 5 [soaks] a day. And I'll send you to Hawaii." Lund responded, "Lol," to which Power replied with, "Not joking. Delete that before I get arrested tho." Between April 2016 and July 2021, Lund and accomplices caused pharmacies they had financial relationships with to submit false and fraudulent claims for unnecessary footbath medications worth at least $2.9 million and were reimbursed at least $2.3 million. One of those pharmacies, iSave Pharmacy, was started and operated by Lund after opening The Foot Doctor. Court documents state that around April 2020, Lund used iSave Pharmacy to dispense and bill for the medicated footbaths and, as the owner of iSave, Lund would receive a percentage of the reimbursements. Between December 2017 and May 2020, Lund used the diagnostic lab to submit more than $900, 000 in false claims to the

programs causing the lab to be reimbursed more than $200, 000. Lund waived a formal reading of the indictment and pleaded not guilty to the charges before him. Lund was issued a $10, 000 bond on the condition that he give up his passport and avoid breaking any laws. Lund's trial is scheduled for Aug. 22 in Oxford Courtroom 1 before Senior District Judge Glen H. Davidson.