The Medical Director of 2 South Florida addiction treatment centers was convicted today after a 15-day trial of appealing in a scheme that fraudulently billed roughly $112 million for substance abuse services that were never ever supplied or were medically unneeded.
” Santeiro’s conviction shows the undeviating dedication of the Department of Justice’s Sober Houses Effort to safeguarding patients and prosecuting deceptive substance abuse treatment centers,” stated Assistant Chief law officer Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Bad guy Department. ” Instead of ‘do no damage,’ Santeiro, driven by greed, used his medical license to do unconscionable damage to susceptible patients having a hard timewith addiction The department will non-stop pursue these cases to make sure patients get the care they should have.”
According to court files and proof provided at trial, Jose Santeiro, 72, of Miami Lakes, Florida, a medical professional, worked with others to unlawfully costs for roughly $112 million of addiction treatment services that were never ever rendered and/or were medically unneeded at 2 addiction treatment centers where Santeiro was theMedical Director The centers were 2nd Possibility Detox LLC, dba Compass Detox (Compass Detox), an inpatient detox and residential facility, and WAR Network LLC (WAR), an associated outpatient treatment program.
The proof revealed that Santeiro and others confessed patients for medically unneeded detox services, the most pricey kind of treatment the centers provided. Patient employers provided kickbacks to cause patients to go to the programs and then provided unlawful drugs to make sure admittance for detox at Compass Detox. Proof at trial likewise revealed that Santeiro sent incorrect and deceptive claims for extreme, medically unneeded urinalysis drug tests that were never everused in treatment Santeiro and others then licensed the readmission of a core group of patients who were mixed in between Compass Detox and WAR to fraudulently costs for as much as possible, although the patients did not require the pricey treatment for which they were consistently confessed. Santeiro likewise recommended Compass Detox patients with a so-called “Convenience Beverage” to sedate them, guarantee they remained at the facility, and keep them returning. The proof even more revealed that Santeiro’s log-in was used, with his understanding, by others to sign electronic medical files to make it look like if Santeiro had actually supplied treatment himself when he did not.
” Deceptive billing plans like this deny susceptible patients of required medical care and divert important resources from America’s health care system,” stated FBI Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the Crook Investigative Department. “Today’s conviction is a clear caution to anybody engaged in health care fraud that the FBI, together with our partners, will strongly pursue you and hold you responsible for your actions.”
Santeiro was convicted of conspiracy to dedicate health care fraud and wire fraud and 8 counts of health care fraud. He deals with up to twenty years in jail for the conspiracy count and up to ten years in jail for each health care fraud count. A federal district court judge will figure out the sentences after thinking about the U.S. Sentencing Standards and other statutory elements.
The FBI, Department of Health and Human Solutions, Workplace of Inspector General, and the Broward County Sherriff’s Workplace examined the case.
Senior Lawsuits Counsel Jim Hayes of the National Rapid Reaction Strike Force and Trial Lawyer Jamie de Boer and Andrea Savdie of the Bad guy Department’s Fraud Area are prosecuting the case.
The National Rapid Reaction Strike Force, Los Angeles Strike Force, and Miami Strike Force lead the Department of Justice’s Sober Houses Effort, which was revealed in the 2020 National Health Care Fraud Takedown to prosecute offenders who make use of susceptible patients looking for treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction