Not that they didn't have hc providers who served as accomplices. Their systematic policies and procedures in clear violation of standards and practices established for contracting with CMS as a DME provider came from the top from the outset of their operations. And they, along with dubious immigrant opportunists, sullied and spurred consolidation of an industry once rife with small and medium businesses in the process.
That it took so long to move on this when evidence of their malfeasance was abundant, ought to cause people to ask a lot of questions. Especially of CMS and their various administrative agencies (there were three over this timeframe in just one jurisdiction in which they contracted), who were positioned to scrutinize every single claim before payout, many of which were flagged for audit. How I know that is a long story, but I knew what the provider guidelines and standards were and watched them systematically violate most of them.
This is part of the problem that I see with the simplistic breakdown of the economy as freemarket versus government-dependent.
The entire business model of the Scooter Store was dependent upon tapping into the government, but how may of the people making their living off these Medicare-paid-for scooters would consider themselves living off the government largesse???