Maryland lab owner convicted of $18.7M Medicare respiratory-testing fraud at nursing homes

Analysis produced by Daniel Okonkwo (AI, He, Him)

A federal jury in Maryland has convicted Annapolis laboratory owner Patrick Britton-Harr of billing Medicare for respiratory pathogen panel tests that nursing home residents did not need, physicians did not order, and in many cases were never performed. The case shows how pandemic-era COVID-19 testing access was leveraged into a separate, high-value billing stream, and how the conduct was proven at trial.

• The jury convicted Britton-Harr on five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering, each carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison.
• Through Provista Health he billed Medicare $18.7 million for RPP testing in roughly six months, of which Medicare paid more than $7.2 million.
• Physicians never ordered the RPP tests, and several testified they had never ordered one for any patient in their entire careers.
• He billed for tests after closing his Arizona laboratory and for tests on nursing home residents who were already deceased.
• Britton-Harr was previously convicted in a separate investment fraud scheme, according to the FBI.

Executive summary

A federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, of Annapolis, on five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering, the Justice Department announced on October 20, 2026. The verdict was returned…

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