A Maryland lab owner's $18.7 million nursing home respiratory test scheme
Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, of Annapolis, Maryland, owned Provista Health, which offered COVID-19 testing to nursing homes nationwide beginning in 2020. Alongside each COVID-19 specimen collected from a resident, the company billed Medicare for a respiratory pathogen panel test that prosecutors say physicians did not order and that in many cases was never performed, supposedly run at Britton-Harr's Arizona laboratory, including for some residents who had already died. Billing continued even after the Arizona lab closed and its equipment was removed. Provista Health billed Medicare about $18.7 million for the respiratory panel tests over roughly six months, and Medicare paid out more than $7.2 million. A federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted Britton-Harr on October 19, 2026 of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering. No sentencing date had been set as of this page's last review.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Convicted
- Reported loss
- $7.2 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- COVID-19 test billing fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-28
The facts, as recorded
- Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, of Annapolis, Maryland, owned Provista Health and its laboratory in Arizona.
- Beginning in 2020, Provista Health offered COVID-19 testing to nursing homes nationwide, collecting specimens from residents.
- Alongside each COVID-19 test, the company billed Medicare for a respiratory pathogen panel test that physicians did not order and that, prosecutors say, was in many cases never performed, including for some residents who had already died.
- Britton-Harr directed employees, including a family member and high school and college interns, to submit respiratory panel claims whenever a COVID-19 test was administered.
- Billing for the respiratory panel tests continued even after the Arizona laboratory closed, employees were barred from entering it, and its testing equipment was gone.
- Provista Health billed Medicare about $18.7 million for the respiratory panel tests over roughly six months, and Medicare paid out more than $7.2 million.
- A federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted Britton-Harr on October 19, 2026 of five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering; each health care fraud count carries up to 10 years in prison.
- Proceeds were spent on a $112,500 Porsche 911 purchased in December 2020 and an Annapolis waterfront mansion carrying $25,000 monthly mortgage payments.
- US Attorney Kelly O. Hayes and FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul were quoted in coverage of the verdict; no sentencing date had been set as of this page's last review.
Why this case matters
It is the most recently decided case documented on this scheme’s page, and it shows the fraud reaching into a setting where the billed person could least have caught it themselves: a nursing home resident who may never have known a respiratory panel was billed in their name at all, in some cases because they had already died.
Billing that outlived the lab
Provista Health kept submitting respiratory panel claims for months after its Arizona laboratory had closed, its employees were barred from entering, and the testing equipment itself was gone, according to prosecutors. The claims did not stop when the capacity to run the tests did.
Who was billed
Prosecutors said some of the respiratory panel claims were submitted for nursing home residents who had already died by the time the claims were filed, a detail that underscores why the direct financial victim in this case is Medicare itself rather than any individual patient.
The caveat
A federal jury convicted Britton-Harr on five counts of health care fraud and one count of money laundering on October 19, 2026. As of this page’s last review, no sentencing date had been set. The facts above describe what the jury’s verdict and the prosecution’s case established; this page does not speculate about a sentence that has not yet been imposed.
Sources
- Maryland man convicted in $18.7M Medicare fraud. STL.News. Accessed 2026-10-28. Supports: Britton-Harr's identity, Provista Health, the Arizona laboratory, the respiratory pathogen panel billing of nursing home residents including some already deceased, the family member and interns directed to bill, the continued billing after the lab closed, the $18.7 million billed and $7.2 million paid, and the jury's verdict and counts.
- Medicare scheme fraud: Prosecutors say fraud proceeds bought Porsche 911, Annapolis waterfront mansion. FOX45 Baltimore (WBFF). Accessed 2026-10-28. Supports: The $112,500 Porsche 911 purchased in December 2020, the Annapolis waterfront mansion and its $25,000 monthly mortgage payments, the verdict's five health care fraud counts and one money laundering count, and the quotes from US Attorney Kelly O. Hayes and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul.
- Maryland man convicted of $18.7M Medicare fraud for respiratory testing scheme targeting nursing homes. US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Accessed 2026-10-28. Supports: The over $18 million billed to Medicare for unnecessary respiratory tests, physicians not ordering or performing them, the targeting of nursing homes, and the October 2026 jury conviction.