Here are six things to know:
1. The physician went before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno of the Southern District of Florida.
2. Dr. Lora plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, receive healthcare kickbacks and make false statements relating to healthcare matters.
3. Serving as medical director of Miami-based Merfi Corporation, the physician admitted to writing prescriptions for home healthcare and other services for Medicare beneficiaries in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. The prescriptions were not medically necessary nor were the prescriptions provided to the patients.
4. Additionally, Dr. Lora and his co-conspirators falsified patient records to make them appear as if the beneficiaries applied for certain services.
5. Merfi’s owner, Isabel Medina, was sentenced to nine years in prison in March 2014 for conspiring to commit healthcare fraud.
6. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which operates in nine cities across the nation, has charged more than 2,300 defendants since its inception in March 2007. The defendants have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $7 billion.
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