13 Indicted For Medicare Fraud In Puerto Rico; Federal Officials Use Hotline To Find Medicaid Fraud
Officials in Puerto Rico filed over a dozen indictments for health care fraud. Meanwhile, an innovative tool is being used by federal authorities seeking 170 alleged to have fled the country to avoid charges of Medicaid fraud.
The Associated Press/CBS News: 13 Accused Of Health Care Fraud In Puerto Rico
Thirteen people including three doctors have been indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to a statement Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The first indictment accuses Jose Lopez Diaz of charging Medicare more than half a million dollars for services never rendered at a medical center where he never worked. Lopez also is accused of billing Medicare for a procedure he claimed he performed on female patients that can only be done on men, prosecutors say. Also charged is Lopez's brother, Carlos Lopez Diaz, a dentist whom prosecutors say provided his brother with names and Medicare beneficiary numbers of his patients. Two daughters of Jose Lopez Diaz also are accused of filling out fake claim forms and receiving gifts from their father as rewards (9/1).
Detroit Free Press: Do You Know These Top 10 Michigan Medicaid Fraud Fugitives?
A Medicare fraud fugitive hotline started in February wants leads on 170 people believed to have fled the country to avoid jail or prosecution. Ten of those fugitives are from Detroit and are accused of fraud in receiving more than $42 million. Some are believed to be living in Pakistan and India (Anstett, 9/1).