Medicare Fraud

An Orlando medical doctor and an infusion clinic owner were sentenced to 64 months in prison and two years supervised release, and 90 months and two years supervised release, respectively, for their roles in a $13.7 million Medicare fraud conspiracy that involved submitting claims for expensive infusion-therapy drugs that were never purchased, never provided and not medically necessary.

The role of a psychiatrist is to diagnose and help treat mental disorders, often through the usage of prescription medication. Unfortunately, there are some bad apples who misuse their access to controlled substances to defraud patients and the healthcare system. A psychiatrist and his business...

The Latin term “quid pro quo” translates into “something for something.” (In other words, it means, “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”) A New Orleans, Louisiana woman committed Medicare fraud through a quid pro quo arrangement involving two Louisiana psychiatrists. While no...

The average U.S. per capita income in 2016 was $57,617 according to the Census; meanwhile, gastroenterologists earned an average of $380,000, per the Medscape Gastroenterologist Compensation Report 2016. Greed is a powerful thing, driving a Texas physician—who presumably earned better than six times a...

The most common perpetrator of a healthcare fraud scheme is someone within the healthcare profession. This is the case in today’s fraud story, which explains how a man who owned a medical equipment company targeted and defrauded Medicare beneficiaries.  Colombian national Juan Buitrago pleaded guilty...

There is a definite difference between needs and wants. Needs are things required for living like food, shelter, water, or healthcare. Wants are desires for things or services that are not necessary, but what we’d like to have. Some people need opioids to legitimately...

A New Jersey physician pleaded guilty in September 2019 in one of the nation’s largest healthcare and Medicare fraud cases to date. Joseph DeCorso admitted that he worked for two so-called telemedicine companies, writing orders for medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare beneficiaries. The beneficiaries...

Sadly, it is not uncommon for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to be the perpetrators responsible for fraudulently billing Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars each year. (So much for the Hippocratic Oath.) Dr. Michael J Ligotti of Delray Beach, Fl., was...

Most fraudsters are lazy, but opportunistic at the same time. You can be sure that they will do their best to make as much money as possible without much effort. The story behind a Wellington, Fl., internist turned fraudster doesn’t fit this typical description....

Akop Atoyan, 48, of California has pleaded guilty to two counts of healthcare fraud. Atoyan and his wife, Liana Karapetyan, owned ANG Health Care Inc., Excel Home Healthcare Inc., and Excel Hospice Inc. As owners of these Sacramento-based home healthcare and hospice agencies, the husband-and-wife...