October 16: Week That Was in Healthcare Fraud and Malpractice
By - Here is a general roundup of the past week’s developments in healthcare fraud and malpractice, as reported by the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General. The crimes reported below result in multiple millions of dollars in healthcare fraud and the possibility of extensive prison time.
Arkansas physician admits $2.2M in billing fraud
Robert Barrow, MD, pled guilty this week to plotting to execute healthcare fraud, reports the Department of Justice. Barrow, owner and operator of the Little Rock-based “Your Doctor’s Office” medical clinic, admitted conspiring with massage therapist, Billy Marc Young, to help bill patients even when Barrow was abroad in London or out-of-state in Las Vegas or Hawaii. Bill exceeded $2 million. As per the plea agreement, Barrow stated his scheme wronged health insurers and past patients.
According to what is assumed to be his authentic Linkedin profile, Barrow worked at “Your Doctor’s Office for over 12 years, what he refers to as a “busy practice in General Medicine with a growing interest in Regenerative Medicine.”
Says David Shepard, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Little Rock Field Office of the FBI, "Dr. Barrow’s theft from his patients not only deprived his patients of their money, but also their faith — and the public’s faith — in the health care system.”
"The scam perpetrated by Dr. Barrow defrauded Medicare and private insurers, and it also deprived patients of proper health care," adds Special Agent in Charge, CJ Porter, of the United States Department of Health and Human Services–Office of Inspector General (HHS–OIG). "HHS–OIG is dedicated to aggressively investigating this type of criminal activity because of the impact on quality of care and the health care economy as a whole," Porter maintains.
Barrow will pay over $700,000 in restitution to Medicare and Blue Cross (Young will pay the difference) and up to $100,000 to past patients who emptied their wallets trusting they were to receive physical therapy. In exchange, charges will be dismissed, says the Department of Justice. Sentencing will follow at a future time.
Wanted Cuban national on 14 fraud counts arrested in FL
Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez Sigler was recently arrested after arriving from a Cuban flight in Miami. He had being wanted for the past two years for his alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar healthcare fraud scheme.
According to the Department of Justice, Sigler, the president and owner of G.R. Services Equipment & Supplies Incorporated, was charged by indictment and returned with 14 counts of fraud. Between May and July of 2013, Sigler allegedly caused G.R. Services to submit over $2.5 million to Medicare in false and fraudulent claims in pursuance of reimbursement for non-prescribed and non-provided durable medical equipment. Nearly $244,000 had been previously seized from a G.R. Services bank account via federal law enforcement agents, says the Department of Justice.
“G.R. Services sought thousands of dollars in reimbursement for wound therapy electrical pumps and sterile collagen dressings purportedly provided in 2013 to Medicare beneficiaries who had died in 2010,” says the indictment.
