Here are four physician fraud cases reported by Becker’s in the last eight days:
1. Mount San Rafael Hospital and Rural Health Clinic in Trinidad, Colo., and three physicians employed by the hospital agreed to pay a combined $650,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act.
Between January 2016 and December 2023, Sheryll Castro-Flores, MD, Joseph Jimenez, MD, and Douglas McFarland, MD, repeatedly issued invalid prescriptions for controlled substances, according to a Nov. 24 news release from the Justice Department.
2. Ameet Vohra, MD, owner of Miramar, Fla.-based Vohra Wound Physicians Management, and his companies have agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting claims for medically unnecessary surgical procedures to Medicare.
3. Marion Lee, MD, 62, a physician in Cordele, Ga., pleaded guilty to his role in a $24 million scheme to defraud Medicare. Dr. LEe was the co-owner and advisor of Tifton, Ga.-based Luminus Diagnostics. He conspired with others to procure orders for genetic testing in exchange for kickbacks, including for orders acquired through purported telemedicine.
4. Tommie Robinson, MD, an Alabama-based physician, pleaded guilty to a $6 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment and genetic testing.
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