Medicare fraud nets 20-year prison sentence for Miami physician, Florida remains a hot bed for fraud. – 06/28/11
A Florida doctor was recently convicted for pocketing more than $1 million for writing phony prescriptions for unnecessary HIV treatments. The 72-year-old doctor will spend 20 years of prison for his role in a massive Medicare fraud conspiracy. The racket was headed by Metro Med’s owner, Damaris Oliva, who cooperated with authorities and was sentenced to about seven years. Such Medicare fraud is nothing new in Florida. Earlier this year, 20 individuals from Florida, were indicted in a $200 million Medicare fraud scheme. Individuals purportedly gave illegal kickbacks to doctors and submitted false claims for mental health services that were never provided. The scheme included not just doctors but also the owners of medical facilities and marketers for those facilities. This is well deserved punishment for individuals who defrauded taxpayers and the government.