$1B Medicare fraud, CEO sentenced to 15 years; head injuries tied to higher risk of attempting suicide; AI and ICU ventilation – Morning Medical Update

CEO gets 15 years in $1B Medicare fraud

The former CEO of a health care software company was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for orchestrating a sprawling telemedicine fraud scheme that billed more than $1 billion to Medicare and other federal health programs.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Gary Cox, 79, of Arizona, ran the online platform “Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC,” which generated fraudulent physicians’ orders used to justify medically unnecessary braces, pain creams and other items. Prosecutors said the scheme relied on misleading advertising, offshore call centers and paid physicians who signed orders with little or no patient interaction, allowing suppliers to submit false claims to Medicare and other insurers.

Head injuries tied to higher suicide attempt risk

Adults who experience a head injury face a significantly higher risk of attempting suicide, even in the absence of prior mental illness, according to a large UK population study published in Neurology. Researchers from the University of Birmingham analyzed 20 years of linked health records from more than 1.8 million adults and found a 21% increased risk of suicide attempts among those with head injuries compared with matched controls. The risk was highest in the first 12 months after injury and persisted over time.

AI pushes ICU ventilation toward precision care

Artificial intelligence (AI) could soon help intensivists move beyond one-size-fits-all ventilation strategies for acute respiratory distress syndrome, according to a new perspective article in the Journal of Intensive Medicine. Researchers reviewed emerging AI systems that combine real-time ventilator waveforms, blood gases, vital signs and imaging to guide individualized mechanical ventilation in ARDS, a condition with mortality often exceeding 35%.

The authors report that machine learning and reinforcement learning models can predict readiness for weaning, optimize ventilator settings and reduce ventilator-induced lung injury, while explainable AI frameworks help keep clinicians firmly in control. Although challenges remain, the team predicts AI-enabled “co-pilot” tools could be embedded into ICU ventilators within the next five years, bringing personalized ventilation closer to routine clinical practice.