Podiatry Malpractice Lawyer & Attorney : Michael A. Quinn Law Firm : Surgery, Amputation, Podiatric Medicine : New Jersey

A St. Louis County podiatrist, Dr. Denise Hardy, 45,  recently plead guilty to a health care fraud charge in federal court in St. Louis and has admitted to over billing Medicaid and Medicare for unnecessary treatments.

Prosecutors said that Denise Hardy, D.P.M.,  lied on treatment notes from 2000 through 2005 so that Medicaid and Medicare would pay for foot care that would not otherwise have been reimbursed.

Dr. Hardy worked for South St. Louis Orthopedic Group between 1998  and 2005 and provided podiatric services at their office as well as at nursing homes, such as Lafayette Habilitation and at senior service centers at St. Anthonys Medical Center and  St. Alexius Hospital.

Denise Hardy was paid a salary of  $55,000  plus between 50 to 60 percent of the revenue she had billed each month over $12,000.
 

Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch 3-13-2009

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Ohio  podiatrist, Dr. Harold M. Jones, DPM,   has been found guilty in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid. Dr. Jones, 45, recently went on trial in Cleveland on 22 counts of healthcare fraud, six counts of aggravated identity theft and 26 counts of mail fraud. The jury found him guilty on three of the counts, after three days of deliberations and not guilty on the remainder of the charges.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roberts, Dr. Jones had used improper billing codes, billed for services that were not rendered and also billed under a false provider number. The doctor was also accused of using another medicare provider number and person’s name in order to submit false claims for reimbursement.

Source: The News-Herald (2-24-09)

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Authorities said that  podiatrist Michael Schmierer, D.PM. from Holmdel  ran clinics in Middlesex and Union counties in New Jersey has admitted to obstructing a federal health-care audit.

Dr. Michael Schmierer is a partner in Advantage Foot and Ankle Centers.  On August 7, he  plead guilty  in U.S. District Court in Trenton to one count of obstructing a federal audit.

Schmierer's podiatry practice had centers in Linden, South Amboy, East Brunswick,  Linden and Oldbridge. 

Advantage Foot and Ankle Center was audited by a Medicare contractor responsible for detecting Medicare fraud.  Medicare requested 25 original medical records of patients who had been treated at Advantage and had submitted claims for reimbursement for those treatments.

Authorities determined that Schmierer and co-conspirators re-wrote patient notes in 7 of the 25  files to in order to enhance the claims sent to Medicare. Schmierer admitted that the seven records had been altered to justify the billing.

Dr. Schmierer's sentence is scheduled for November 18 and he  faces a maximum of five years in prison and as much as a $250,000 fine, however sentencing guidelines call for a 12 to 18 months sentence in prison.

Source: mycenteraljersey.com [8/7/08]

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A podiatrist from Illinois pleaded guilty Friday to bilking Medicare out of thousands of dollars over the past decade by writing bills for medical procedures not performed. The podiatrist's  attorney Ron Hamm contends the amount is less than $20,000, however the government is claiming the amount is closer to $270,000.

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