Many people in Florida struggle with addiction. Fortunately, these individuals can receive help for their addictions by checking into treatment facilities. With that said, one medical professional working at a treatment facility in Florida was recently convicted on health care fraud charges.
The details
A medical director working for Good Decisions Sober Living, according to evidence made available at trial, billed patients a total of $110 million for treatment services that weren’t necessary.
Namely, this money came from having patients submit to urine drug tests that were medically unnecessary. Each of these drug test costed anywhere from $6,000 to $9,000 per test. With hundreds of additional drug tests taking place at Good Decisions Sober Living each week, it didn’t take long before an official investigation began.
Besides administering many unnecessary drug tests, evidence also showed that Good Decisions Sober Living received kickbacks for referring patients out to treatment facilities throughout West Palm Beach.
The jury’s verdict
On Feb. 10th, a federal jury in Florida reached a guilty verdict against this Florida medical director. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit both wire fraud and health care fraud. In addition, this person was also convicted of 11 separate counts of health care fraud. The medical director should receive his official sentencing in mid-April. If he receives the maximum sentences for each crime, he could spend up to 130 years in prison.
As you can see, it’s important to make sure that your medical practice protects itself against fraud charges. The penalties can be quite severe.
