Corporate Compliance

New Jersey medical assistant charged for treating patients without medical license

Compliance Monitor, March 14, 2012

A grand jury in New Jersey indicted a medical assistant who worked for two large medical services companies on charges for fraudulently providing care to patients without a medical license and billing Medicare for those services, according to a March 5 Department of Justice press release.

The March 2 indictment indicates that between 2004 and 2008, Mario Roncal, while employed as a medical assistant at Comprehensive Healthcare and Cardio-Med in New York and New Jersey respectively, presented himself as a doctor to staff and patients.

Roncal ordered diagnostic tests, diagnosed patients with medical conditions, and prescribed treatment options during this time. He treated new patients as well as the follow-up patients of the CEO at both facilities.

Roncal then falsified the medical records of these patients to make it appear as though the CEO, a licensed physician and board certified cardiologist, had provided the care. Roncal and the CEO then fraudulently submitted claims for these services to Medicare for reimbursement.

While Ronal does hold a medical degree from San Juan Bautista School of Medicine in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he does not hold a license to practice medicine anywhere in the United States.

Read more on the Department of Justice website.

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