A Toms River doctor has pleaded guilty to taking part in a $13 million health care fraud in which he worked for purported telemedicine companies, writing out falsified orders for orthotic braces for Medicare beneficiaries whom he'd never spoken with, according to a news release issued by federal prosecutors.

The doctor, Joseph DeCorso, was one of some two dozen physicians charged in April in what federal authorities have called one of the largest health care fraud cases ever investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, and prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

According to news reports, the extensive scheme resulted in at least $1.2 billion in losses, and it centered on using telemarketing and telemedicine to target elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries with offers of free or low-cost orthopedic braces.

On Sept. 13, DeCorso pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, he admitted that as part of the larger scheme, an international telemarketing network lured in hundreds of thousands of elderly or disabled Medicare beneficiaries.

The international telemarketing network involved call centers throughout the world that sent beneficiaries' information to several telemedicine companies, the U.S. Attorney's Office further said DeCorso admitted.

More specific to his actions, prosecutors said DeCorso admitted to working for two purported telemedicine companies, writing out medically unnecessary orders for the braces—which often provide support or a counterforce for weakened body parts or joints—from July 2017 to March 2019.

Moreover, he admitted, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office's news release, that he wrote brace orders for the companies without speaking to the Medicare beneficiaries, and that he hid the fraud using falsified orders that said, among other things, that he'd had "discussions" or "conversations" with beneficiaries, or had conducted diagnostic testing for them.

DeCorso, 62, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan of the District of New Jersey in Trenton, and he admitted that his actions helped lead to a $13 million intended loss to Medicare, the news release added.

It also said that DeCorso—who, according to online medically related websites, practices internal medicine—agreed to pay more than $7 million in restitution, as well as forfeit assets and property traceable to proceeds of the conspiracy. His sentencing it scheduled for Jan. 8, 2020.

Damian Conforti of Mandelbaum Salsburg in Roseland represented DeCorso. He could not be reached for comment.