Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

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A Texas-based podiatrist was caught defrauding Medicare when investigators discovered his Achilles heel -- he submitted claims for services he claimed to have administered in Texas, even though he was vacationing in Florida at the time.

The podiatrist, who practiced in Houston, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $691,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to health care fraud, according to a May 28 Dept. of Justice news release.

In addition to billing for services that would have taken place when the doctor was on vacation, he was also accused of allowing a non-licensed practitioner to perform services in his absence and bill Medicare for them under his name.

The unlicensed practitioner was also sentenced to prison, and will be serving a two-year sentence, the news release indicated.

For more on this story, visit the Dept. of Justice's Web site at www.justice.gov/usao/txs/releases/May%202010/052810%20Beltre%20and%20Alana.htm.

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