{"id":18328,"date":"2015-12-17T11:12:04","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T19:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=18328"},"modified":"2015-12-17T11:12:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T19:12:50","slug":"18328-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=18328","title":{"rendered":"Two Doctors and Nurse Sentenced to Prison for $50 Million Health Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NEW ORLEANS<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/fraud-medicare-card-cube.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12931 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/fraud-medicare-card-cube-300x284.jpg\" alt=\"fraud-medicare-card-cube\" width=\"300\" height=\"284\" \/><\/a>Two doctors and a registered nurse were sentenced to prison for their roles in connection with a $50 million health care fraud scheme that operated for 10 years in New Orleans, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance<\/strong>\u00a0on Wednesday sentenced <strong>Dr. Barbara Smith<\/strong>, 67, of Metairie, Louisiana; <strong>Dr. Roy Berkowitz,<\/strong> 69, of Slidell, Louisiana; and <strong>Beverley Breaux,<\/strong> 67, of New Orleans, a registered nurse, to six years and eight months; five years and four months and four years and two months, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Judge Vance also ordered Smith, Berkowitz and Breaux to pay $9.4 million; $4.9 million and $2 million in restitution, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">From 2007 through 2014, the companies in this scheme submitted more than $56 million in claims to Medicare, the vast majority of which were fraudulent, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Medicare paid approximately $50.7 million on these claims.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Evidence at trial indicated that the defendants and others carried out a home health care fraud scheme in and around New Orleans through multiple companies over the course of more than 10 years, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Smith and Berkowitz falsely certified that thousands of Medicare recipients were homebound and required nursing or therapy services to be provided in their homes. \u00a0Breaux falsely certified that these patients were homebound and falsely claimed to have treated patients that she had not seen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/theadvocate.com\/news\/neworleans\/neworleansnews\/14310281-123\/two-no-area-doctors-one-nurse-sentenced-to-years-in-prison-in-medicare-fraud-case\">The Advocate website <\/a><\/strong><\/em>reported that the trio was\u00a0among 13 people indicted beginning two years ago in a fraud case centered on companies owned and operated by <strong>Mark Morad, of Slidell,<\/strong> who plead guilty a year ago and awaits sentencing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Federal prosecutors said the scheme ran through multiple companies over the course of a decade, with thousands of false Medicare claims submitted and kickbacks paid to people who recruited the phony patients, according to the Advocate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two doctors and a registered nurse were sentenced to prison for their roles in connection with a $50 million health care fraud scheme that operated for 10 years in New 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