Kansas chiropractor loses license after being accused of Medicare fraud scheme.

LENEXA (KSNT) - A Lenexa-based chiropractor had her license to practice chiropractic care in Kansas revoked and was ordered to pay more than $80,000 in restitution after she was convicted in a federal court for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme.

The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA) announced on Dec. 10 that Lauren Sword's license as a chiropractor in the state is being revoked. This comes after she was convicted of a one count of theft of government money of a value less than $1,000.

Sword and another individual were initially indicted on 23 counts in November 2022 for allegedly taking part in a nearly $3 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The pair were accused of taking part in a conspiracy to pay bribes and receive kickbacks for the referral of Medicare beneficiary information which was used to submit millions of dollars in claims to Medicare from February to September in 2019. Medicare ended up paying out just over $800,000 to two laboratories that submitted the claims.

The DOJ reported in 2022 that Sword and another man jointly owned and operated Senior Community Care LLC based out of Lenexa. The pair were charged with 22 counts of wire fraud and one count of forfeiture.

Court documents from the KSBHA show Sword entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, agreeing to plead guilty to a single count of theft of government money on Jan. 19, 2024. The maximum penalty which could have been imposed due to this conviction included a single year in prison, a $100,000 fine, one year of supervised release and an order of restitution.

A U.S. district judge ordered Sword in June to probation for five years in connection to her conviction. She was also ordered to make a restitution payment of $86,265 to Medicare.

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