Miami physicians sentenced for Medicare fraud

From BizJournals.com:

Two Miami physicians were sentenced to prison on Thursday for their roles in an HIV infusion scheme that defrauded the Medicare program out of $6.8 million.
A Miami federal court judge sentenced Carlos Contreras, 61, to three years and Ramon Pichardo, 58, to four years in prison. They also were ordered to repay $4.2 million in restitution to the Medicare trust fund.
Contreras and Pichardo each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Contreras was owner and a doctor at CNC Medical Corp. in Miami. Pichardo was a doctor there.
Contreras and Pichardo admitted that, between November 2002 and April 2004, they conspired with others to file $6.8 million in false claims to the Medicare program for HIV infusion services that were not provided or medically necessary.

MD Medicare Choice Under Receivership

MD Medicare choice in Tampa Florida has been placed in receivership by Leon County Circuit Court Judge P. Kevin Davey as reported here. Their Medicare Advantage plan had more than 16,000 members across 23 Florida counties. The company had already been under administrative supervision by the Office of Insurance Regulation, but following the difficulties in the stock market these past couple of weeks, the SEC has frozen the $27 million that MD Medicare Choice had as reserves in the Primary Fund of Reserve Management Corp. The current Medicare Advantage contract will be void as of today midnight, and policy holders will be switched to Humana policies. For more information call 1-800-758-4806 or 1-800-833-3301 if you are a beneficiary, or 1-800-882-3054 for information about receivership. You can also log on to http://www.myfloridacfo.com/Receiver/.