April 30, 2015

Miami-Area Physician Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Role in $5.5 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON—A Miami-area medical doctor was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for his role in a $5.5 million Medicare fraud scheme involving fraudulent billings by a psychiatric hospital in Hollywood, Florida.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Shimon Richmond of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement.

Barry Kaplowitz, 54, of Aventura, Florida, a licensed physician, was convicted of making false statements related to health care matters on Feb. 20, 2015, following a six-week jury trial. In addition to today’s prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida ordered Kaplowitz to pay more than $2.9 million in restitution.

According to evidence presented at trial, Kaplowitz served as the medical director at Hollywood Pavilion (HP), a state-licensed psychiatric hospital, from approximately 2008 to 2011. During that time, Kaplowitz signed false and fraudulent medical records in order to make it appear that HP’s patients qualified for and received intensive outpatient services, even though they did not. The evidence demonstrated that Kaplowitz signed patient files for over 400 patients certifying that he had provided mental health services to each of them, even though he never saw nor provided any treatment to the patients. HP used these falsified medical records to submit over 2,800 false claims to Medicare totaling over $5.5 million. Medicare paid $2.9 million on those false claims.

Five other individuals have previously been convicted and sentenced in this case:

  • Karen Kallen-Zury, of Lighthouse Point, Florida, HP’s former chief executive officer, was sentenced to 25 years in prison;
  • Daisy Miller, of Hollywood, the clinical director of HP’s inpatient facility, was sentenced to 15 years in prison;
  • Michele Petrie, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the head of HP’s intensive outpatient program, was sentenced to six years in prison;
  • Christian Coloma, of Miami Beach, Florida, the director of physical therapy for an entity associated with HP, was sentenced to 12 years in prison; and
  • Christopher Gabel, of Davie, Florida, HP’s former chief operating officer, was sentenced to six years in prison.

Kallen-Zury, Miller, Gabel and Petrie were ordered to pay more than $39 million in restitution, and Coloma was ordered to pay more than $20 million in restitution.

The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Nicholas E. Surmacz, Andrew H. Warren and L. Rush Atkinson of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,100 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.