Steven Powell
Introduction
Steven Powell is a former New Hampshire physician and licensed psychiatrist whose career ended in a federal courtroom. In October 2026, Powell, 56, was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison on one count of healthcare fraud for a scheme in which he signed orders for durable medical equipment on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries he never saw, spoke to, or otherwise examined. According to the report, his orders enabled suppliers to submit approximately 1,400 fraudulent claims to Medicare totaling more than $1.9 million, of which Medicare paid $761,202.75. Prosecutors in the District of New Hampshire cast the case as an abuse of a medical license committed with no patient contact at all.
Background Information
Powell practiced as a licensed psychiatrist in New Hampshire; the sentencing report identifies him as a former New Hampshire physician who now lives in Georgia. Between December 2018 and March 2019, he signed hundreds of medically unnecessary orders for durable medical equipment (DME), including knee, wrist, back, and shoulder braces, for more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries. Court documents and statements made in court said he did not examine, speak with, or meaningfully evaluate the beneficiaries for whom he purported to prescribe these devices. Instead, he approved large volumes of pre-populated brace orders within minutes, making meaningful medical review impossible, and often approved multiple braces per patient. The orders were routed through DME suppliers, who used them to bill Medicare for equipment that rested on no legitimate medical assessment.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated. A federal judge sentenced Powell to 12 months and a day in prison on one count of health care fraud; the offense is a conviction of court record. The source does not state whether the conviction entered by plea or by trial.
The scale of the scheme became public when the sentence was handed down. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro sentenced Powell earlier that week, and the sentencing was announced in an October 13, 2026 public post by Colin M. McDonald, which credited the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire, the FBI’s Boston office, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. In one instance, according to the report, Powell completed more than 100 pages requiring 75 signatures in just over a minute, further demonstrating the absence of any legitimate medical assessment. His orders enabled DME suppliers to submit approximately 1,400 fraudulent claims to Medicare totaling more than $1.9 million, of which Medicare paid $761,202.75.
“This defendant abused his position and his medical license in order to defraud taxpayers with nearly $2 million in bogus medical bills, and will now spend time behind bars,” said Erin Creegan, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The reaction recorded in the report came from the officials who investigated and prosecuted the case. “Dr. Steven Powell abandoned all pretense of professional ethics when he caused nearly $2 million in false Medicare bills from bogus prescriptions for medical equipment,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. “By looting these funds, this physician not only strained the system, but cheated the taxpayers who fund it.”
“Powell used his medical license as a tool to facilitate fraud, signing orders for medically unnecessary equipment without examining patients and helping to fuel a scheme that sought to defraud Medicare of millions of dollars,” said Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of that conduct and reinforces our commitment to protecting the integrity of federal health care programs and the taxpayers who fund them.”
In addition to the prison term, Powell was ordered to pay $761,202.75 in restitution to the Medicare program.
Current Status
As of the October 15, 2026 report, Powell, now living in Georgia, had been sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison and ordered to pay $761,202.75 in restitution to Medicare. The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General, and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kennedy prosecuted the case. The sentencing announcement noted that the fraudulent orders covered more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries and produced roughly 1,400 fraudulent claims.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The conviction and sentence ended Powell’s medical career as the report describes it: he is identified as a former New Hampshire physician, and both the U.S. Attorney and the FBI described him as having abused his medical license. Rather than practicing psychiatry, he now faces a year and a day in federal prison and a restitution obligation of $761,202.75 to the Medicare program. The case stands as an example of equipment-prescribing fraud carried out entirely on paper — hundreds of brace orders signed in minutes for patients the physician never saw.
Sources
- Townhall, “Doctor Who Never Saw His Patients Sentenced for $1.9M Medicare Fraud,” October 15, 2026 — source