Physicians and clinic owner arrested in HIV/AIDS infusion scheme
Compliance Monitor, June 25, 2008
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!
A Miami clinic owner and five physicians who worked in the clinic were arrested for allegedly defrauding Medicare for over $15 million worth of costly HIV/AIDS treatments.
The arrests came after an investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into suspicious billing patterns for Intravenous Immune Globulin (“IVIG”) medications used to treat HIV and AIDS. The clinic claimed doctors administered expensive IVIG treatments to patients three times a week. The established medical procedure recommends the medications should only be given once a month.
The clinic’s owner, Esther Romeu, and five licensed physicians, Walter F. Proano, Manuel Barbeite, Alejandro Enrique Casuso, Carmen Lourdes Del Cueto, and Marco Tulio Molinares, have been charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Each defendant faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count in which they are named.
To read the full press release click here
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!
Comments
0 comments on “Physicians and clinic owner arrested in HIV/AIDS infusion scheme ”
Related Products
-
Strategies for Health Care Compliance
News and real-life examples to increase the effectiveness of your compliance program. Strategies for Health Care Compliance...
-
Compliance Monitor
This HTML e-mail newsletter delivers news on Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse, as well as recent documents and targets...
-
Medicare Weekly Update
Each issue of Medicare Weekly Update includes the latest CMS proposed and final rules, CMS manual revisions, and...
-
Medicare Update for Physician Services
Medicare Update for Physician Services is a free, monthly e-zine that delivers news and information to help physician...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Identify potential Medicaid RAC target areas
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Q&A: Acute respiratory failure diagnosis does not require intubation
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- CMS has reformulated payments for some bilateral procedures
- Oxygen Cylinder Storage Requirements
- Q&A: Follow CMS' coding guidelines when using modifier -25
- Understand the spine to code back procedures correctly
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Searched