Medicare fraud

A Texas rheumatologist who turned his license to practice medicine into an $118 million scheme to finance his high-end lifestyle by falsely diagnosing perfectly healthy patients will be spending the next ten years in far less luxurious digs.

The Senate Ethics Committee slapped the wrist of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Thursday in a Public Letter of Admonition.

Judge William Walls declared a mistrial in the public corruption trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Dr. Salomon Melgen on Thursday.

The jury in the public corruption trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (R-NJ) and co-defendant Dr. Salomon Melgen deliberated for a sixth full day on Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price announced the “largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history” on Thursday in which hundreds of individuals nationwide were indicted for their alleged roles in bilking U.S. taxpayers out of $1.3 billion by filing false Medicare claims. One in four of these cases involved opioid-related crimes.

“A prominent Florida eye doctor has been convicted on all counts in his Medicare fraud trial, raising the possibility he could be pressured to testify in the bribery trial of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez,” the Associated Press reported on Friday afternoon:

A key defense witness in Dr. Salomon Melgen’s Medicare fraud trial was “stunned by [the] gap between Melgen, him, in number of tests ordered,” the Palm Beach Post reported of Dr. Dana Deupree’s testimony in a federal courtroom in Florida on Tuesday.

FBI intelligence analyst Jennifer Minton testified on Monday in the Medicare fraud trial of Dr. Salomon Melgen that “Melgen raked in millions more from Medicare for various tests and procedures than any other eye specialist in the nation,” the Palm Beach Post reported.

Dr. Julia Haller, one of the top opthalmologists in the country, testified at the Medicare fraud trial of Dr. Salomon Melgen in a Florida federal court last week that his medical practices were “abusive.” In subsequent testimony, she said they were “unconscionable” and “horrifying.”

The Supreme Court said on Monday it will not hear Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) appeal asking that his public corruption indictment be thrown out.

Jury selection began on Monday in a federal district court in West Palm Beach, Florida in the trial of Salmon Melgen, “where he faces 76 counts charging him with stealing up to $190 million from Medicare between 2004 and 2013,”

“You need to make this patient go bye-bye,” a Texas hospice home owner is accused of texting his employee. The CPA who does not have a medical license, is accused of telling medical personnel to administer up to four times the amount of morphine recommended in order to accelerate client deaths and maximize profits.

When the smiling ophthalmologist, accompanied by his wife and daughter, walked free, it was the first time he has been out of jail since his arrest April 14 on federal charges of Medicare fraud. Federal prosecutors claim Melgen cheated taxpayers out of $105 million in Medicare reimbursements he received between 2007 and 2014. He faces unrelated charges alongside Sen. Robert Menendez in New Jersey.

Federal agents continue their crackdown on Medicare abuse spanning from the Texas Border to Chicago, in a series of cases that have resulted in 243 individuals getting charged in the federal courts of 17 different districts.

More than $100 million has been paid out through one form of government medical aid in the border county of Hidalgo, from January to May. However, investigators believe a large part of that money may be tied to Medicare abuse.

Federal authorities have begun a large-scale crackdown on healthcare businesses and doctors along the Texas border who are accused of scamming government health care programs.

Dr. Salomon Melgen, the Florida opthalmologist indicted on public corruption charges along with Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), remains in a Florida jail on separate Medicare fraud charges.

Dr. Salomon Melgen, the controversial Florida opthalmologist who has been indicted along with his friend Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on public corruption charges, remains in a Florida jail. A federal judge wants to know more about Melgen’s finances before he considers setting bail.

The federal government argues that Menendez should be tried by his New Jersey constituents and peers. “Robert Menendez, a United States Senator elected to represent the people of New Jersey, has filed a motion seeking to avoid being tried by a jury of his peers in the State of New Jersey. The Court should not permit this,” the brief notes.

Facing a possible lifetime sentence on the Medicare fraud charges, and an equally lengthy sentence in the public corruption charges, Melgen may reconsider how strong those ties of friendship with Sen. Bob Menendez are. Menendez, who is free on bond and continues to conduct his duties as a Senator in Washington, is facing only one trial. Dr. Melgen, in contrast, faces two trials and may not see the outside of a jail cell for a very long time.

For the fun loving Dr. Melgen, a well known international jet setter who “suffers from attention deficit disorder and takes sleep medication,” three weeks and counting in a Florida jail is bound to take a toll.

The Florida doctor charged in a political corruption case along with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted Tuesday in a 76-count Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said attempted to bilk the health care program out of as much as $190 million.

Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. as Inspector General for the plagued Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The previous Inspector General stepped down on December 31st when Governor Rick Perry asked him to do so. The state agency has been in the midst of a controversy relative to an alleged no-bid contract given 21CT. State and federal probes have been initiated.