NEW YORK — The US Department of Justice said last week that a New York doctor has been found guilty in a $24 million Medicare fraud scheme that included medically unnecessary laboratory tests.
According to the DOJ, a jury found that New York City-based Alexander Baldonado received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering genetic cancer tests and other laboratory tests that were billed to Medicare.
The tests were ordered for Medicare beneficiaries who attended COVID-19 testing events at assisted living facilities, adult day care centers, and a retirement community, the DOJ said. Baldonado was not treating any of the beneficiaries, billed Medicare for office visits that never occurred, and, in many cases, did not perform examinations before ordering the tests. He also did not review the results of the tests with the patients, who in some cases never received the test results at all.
The DOJ said that Baldonado was also found to have ordered medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in exchange for illegal cash kickbacks and bribes from the owner of an unnamed durable medical equipment supply company.
Medicare was billed more than $24 million for the tests and braces and paid more than $2.1 million to the laboratories and the durable medical equipment supply company involved in the schemes, the DOJ said.
Baldonado was found guilty of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He is scheduled to be sentenced in late June.