Pain can be debilitating. (Thankfully, there are a variety of methods available for treating chronic and acute ailments.) A Department of Justice press release tells about how a physician specializing in interventional pain management and his psychiatrist wife used a specific pain treatment technique to falsely bill multiple government programs for $2.5 million in procedures that were not performed. (Let’s just say that this couple’s illegal activities definitely struck a nerve with the government.)
The story states that the man and wife owned and operated a Maryland pain management center where a nerve block procedure was used to treat their patients’ pain. (A nerve block is a pain management technique where an anesthetic is injected into an affected nerve area interrupting the flow of pain signals to the brain.)
Apparently, they filed claims for procedures they did not perform with a machine that did not exist. They altered or destroyed patient files to cover up the fact that there was no machine to help verify needle placement. (Sounds like a pretty scary machine if you ask me.) Sometimes they did perform less expensive procedures, but billed for more expensive treatments so they could receive a higher reimbursement. (The couple had a heyday submitting bills over more than three years to multiple government-funded insurance programs including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, Federal Employees Health Benefits and the Office of Workers’ Compensation.)
After an eight-day trial, a federal jury convicted the licensed 60-year-old physician and his 57-year-old wife, who was also licensed. The husband is facing more than 120 years in prison for health care fraud, making false statements related to a health care program, obstruction of justice, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The wife was convicted on the same charges plus obstructing an audit. She is facing more than 130 years in prison. (It’s safe to assume that they are really in a lot of trouble.)
There’s no doubt that these two fraudsters are sitting on pins and needles as they await their sentencing. As far as I know there is only a cell block, not a nerve block waiting for them when they get to prison. The type of pain that they are about to experience is a pretty bad side effect of committing a crime.
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