Psychiatrist Jose Santeiro, MD, of Miami Lakes, Florida, has actually been sentenced to 54 months in jail for appealing in a plan that fraudulently billed about $112 million for substance abuse services that were never ever offered or were medically unneeded, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has actually revealed
Santeiro was medical director of 2 substance abuse treatment centers where the fraud happened: Compass Detox, an inpatient detox and residential facility in Pembroke Pines, and WAR Network LLC (WAR), an associated outpatient treatment program in Hallandale Beach.
According to trial proof, Santeiro and others confessed patients for pricey and medically unneeded detox services after employers provided kickbacks to draw them into the programs, and then offered the patients unlawful drugs to guarantee that they were confessed to detox at Compass Detox.
He likewise sent phony claims for extreme, medically unneeded urinalysis drug tests.
Santeiro and others then licensed the readmission of a core group of patients who were mixed in between Compass Detox and WAR to fraudulently expense for “as much as possible, despite the fact that the patients did not require the pricey treatment for which they were consistently confessed,” the DOJ stated.
It included that Santeiro offered Compass Detox patients a “convenience beverage” to sedate them so they would stay at the facility.
‘ Sober Residence Effort’
The proof even more revealed that Santeiro enabled his login to be used by others to sign electronic medical files in order to make it look like if he had actually offered treatment himself, when in truth he had not.
After a 15-day trial in March 2022, Santeiro was founded guilty of conspiracy to dedicate healthcare fraud and wire fraud, in addition to 8 counts of healthcare fraud.
His sentencing is part of the DOJ’s “Sober Residence Effort,” which prosecutes accuseds who make use of susceptible patients looking for treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction
2 other co-defendants, Jonathan and Daniel Markovich, were founded guilty in an earlier trial in November 2021 and sentenced to 188 months and 97 months in jail, respectively.
In addition, Richard Waserstein, a Florida lawyer and co-owner of the 2 treatment centers, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to dedicate cash laundering and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
Drew Lieberman, MD, chief medical officer of Compass Detox, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to dedicate healthcare fraud and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
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