A Houston physician has been indicted on charges that he and others billed the federal government about $30 million for office visits that were never provided, according to a Oct. 6 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
A federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against Joseph Montes, MD, on Sept. 30, and it has since been unsealed. Between 2020 and 2022, Dr. Montes and others allegedly submitted false claims to the Health Resources and Services Administration, which paid about $20 million. Dr. Montes owned and operated two Houston clinics, Joseph A. Montes MD & Associates and Montes Medical, and allegedly let co-conspirators run pop-up COVID-19 testing sites under his name. Patients visited the sites for nasal swab tests, while the co-conspirators allegedly billed HRSA for office visits.
The clinics allegedly submitted thousands of impossible claims, including more than 3,000 evaluation and management claims on each of about 29 dates. On Dec. 1, 2021, they allegedly submitted more than 9,000 claims, or roughly one patient visit every nine seconds over 24 hours. Dr. Montes allegedly spent proceeds at a luxury car dealership and Tiffany & Co.
If convicted, Dr. Montes faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy, 20 years for each wire fraud count and 10 years for each money laundering count, as well as a possible $250,000 fine. He has been taken into custody and made his initial appearance in federal court.
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