- A Utah podiatrist and two nurses face federal charges for alleged $29M Medicare fraud.
- They are accused of submitting false claims for unnecessary skin substitutes from 2021-2025.
- Initial court appearance for Ryan Ellsworth, Emily Kelly and Drake Broadbent is June 8.
ST. GEORGE — A Utah podiatrist and two nurses who worked for him have been indicted by a federal grand jury, accusing them of submitting $29 million in fraudulent Medicare claims.
Ryan Scott Ellsworth, 47, of Highland; Emily Kelly, 45, of Washington, Washington County; and Drake Dell Broadbent, 55, of Santa Clara, "allegedly defrauded the federal healthcare benefit program, Medicare, to fraudulently obtain money for their own financial benefit," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah. The three are facing various charges, including healthcare fraud, wire fraud and making false statements relating to healthcare matters.
The alleged fraud occurred between July 2021 and December 2025. Ellsworth owned and operated several clinics in St. George, Payson, Provo, Sandy and West Valley City under the name Summit Foot and Ankle as well as Amble Medical in Highland.
"Ellsworth, Kelly, and Broadbent knew Medicare billing of a skin substitute was permissible only if medically necessary and if basic wound care had been administered to a wound for the previous 30 days. However, the defendants submitted false claims to Medicare for providing skin substitutes to patients who did not have qualifying wounds and where continued treatment of skin substitutes was medically unnecessary," federal prosecutors said.
"As a result, Ellsworth billed $44 million in claims to Medicare for skin substitutes, many of which were unnecessary, and Medicare paid Summit over $19 million on these claims. Kelly billed $17 million in claims to Medicare for skin substitutes, many of which were medically unnecessary, and Medicare paid Summit over $10 million on the submitted claims."
Skin substitutes are synthetic materials used to cover wounds typically caused by burns or chronic ulcers, providing a scaffold for tissue regeneration to help with healing.
Charging documents reiterate that doctors are required to first provide 30 days of basic care for such wounds.
"If after the conclusion of that 30-day period the wound or ulcer has increased in size, remained unchanged, or lacks signs of improvement, advanced wound care can properly be considered, including skin substitute grafting," the charges say.
"It was further part of the scheme that, to facilitate the submission of false claims, Ellsworth, Kelly, Broadbent and other clinic employees routinely waived and did not pursue Medicare copayments from beneficiaries for skin substitutes which, at times, would have been thousands of dollars owed by a Medicare beneficiary," court documents state.
Prosecutors also claim that Ellsworth "caused unqualified medical providers and clinic employees, including, among others, Broadbent, to provide skin substitute services that were outside their professional scope of practice," according to the indictment.
The trio's initial appearance in federal court is scheduled for June 8.
