The Lure of COVID Funds: Greenwich Doctor Settles Medical Billing Fraud Allegations
Steven Murphy, M.D., along with his practice entities Murphy Medical Associates, LLC and Diagnostic and Medical Specialists of Greenwich, LLC, has agreed to pay $866,539 to settle federal and state civil medical billing fraud allegations. As part of the settlement, Dr. Murphy and his practices agreed to be excluded from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and all federal and Connecticut health care programs for three years.
His clinical background is anchored in concierge internal medicine, and he completed his internal medicine residency at Greenwich Hospital. Today, his practice centers on longevity, biohacking, precision medicine, stem cells, peptides, and weight-loss therapies. Office locations include Greenwich (1 East Putnam Avenue), Cos Cob (40 East Putnam Avenue), and Stamford (30 Buxton Farm Road).
The Billing Allegations
According to prosecutors, the settlement resolves civil False Claims Act allegations spanning from September 2019 through April 2022 involving two primary mechanisms:
COVID-19 Uninsured Fund Alterations: The government alleged that his practice submitted claims to the HHS HRSA Uninsured Program for patients who carried commercial health coverage. Electronic health record (EHR) entries were allegedly updated to "Covid19 HRSA Uninsured" to double-dip on emergency federal funds.
Unperformed Lab Tests: Federal prosecutors alleged that Dr. Murphy's in-house laboratory billed Medicare and Medicaid for individual blood test panels that could not actually be run because the lab lacked the required chemical testing reagents.
The Lure of Pandemic Funds
The onset of COVID-19 brought an influx of rapid, emergency government funding alongside intense public demand for testing. For a boutique concierge physician, rapidly scaling high-volume drive-through testing sites and jumping into complex insurance and government-reimbursed billing presented a tempting revenue stream—one supported by initially lax emergency oversight that ultimately gave way to intense regulatory scrutiny.
A Media-Driven Brand
Beyond his clinical operations, Dr. Murphy maintains an active media presence. He hosts the podcasts Murphy’s Medicineand Hard Truths and Convenient Lies, authors the Substack newsletter Longevity Insider with Dr. Murphy, and shares video commentary on his YouTube channel, Murphy’s Medical Minute, while engaging on X (@TakeWeightOffMD) and Instagram (@realconciergemedical).
Between the Lines: With a mandatory three-year exclusion from government healthcare programs now in place, TV Dr. Murphy’s best path for building a practice with "longevity" is to stick strictly to the direct pay concierge model—where patients pay up front and take on the vetting themselves, far away from government agencies and insurance auditors.