Slidell Doctor Convicted of Health Care Fraud
US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, May 27, 2025
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that ROBERT TASSIN, M.D. (“TASSIN”), age 64, of Slidell, Louisiana, pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1347 and 1349, in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary cancer genetic (“CGx”) tests.
According to court documents, TASSIN worked for several purported telemedicine companies. From approximately February through September of 2019, TASSIN, through the purported telemedicine companies, signed doctors’ orders for CGx tests for Medicare beneficiaries he never saw, spoke to, or otherwise treated. As a result, TASSIN’s orders resulted in over $6.6 million in false and fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare, of which Medicare reimbursed over $2 million. To conceal and perpetuate the fraud, TASSIN made several false and fraudulent statements in support of the orders he submitted, including falsely certifying in medical records that the CGx tests were medically necessary for the patients’ treatment. In exchange for electronically reviewing patient charts and ordering CGx tests, TASSIN was paid a set fee per doctor’s order, typically $30. Under the terms of his plea agreement, TASSIN agreed to forfeit the $106,757 that he received and to pay restitution of over $2 million to Medicare.
The Honorable Barry W. Ashe set sentencing for August 28, 2025. At sentencing, TASSIN faces up to ten years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain to TASSIN or the gross loss to Medicare, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Trial Attorney Kelly Walters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses, Healthcare Fraud Coordinator for the Eastern District of Louisiana, are prosecuting the case.
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