Seven Charged In $11 Million Medicare Fraud Linked To Fake HIV Clinic

Miami, FL (AHN) - Seven people, including a physician, have been indicted on federal charges alleging they set up a fake south Florida health clinic to bill Medicare for $11 million in HIV treatments that never actually administered, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced Wednesday.

Dr. Ana Alvarez and six other Miami-area residents are charged in a scheme that involved setting up a medical clinic, Saint Jude Rehab Center, that supposedly specialized in treating HIV patients.

According to the indictment, the clinic was incorporated in April 2003 and Alvarez, who had no previous medical experience in treating AIDS patients, was hired to work at the clinic. Alvarez then "ordered unnecessary tests, signed medical analysis and diagnosis forms, and authorized treatments without regard to medical necessity," the government alleges, to create the appearance that patients with HIV were receiving treatment.

Members of the group are alleged to have paid HIV patients up to $150 a visit to sign logs stating that they had treatments for which Medicare was then billed. The government said that the patients did not actually receive any treatment at the clinic.

If convicted, the group faces prison terms ranging from 15 to 35 years.

Two persons have already been convicted on other charges related to the case. In October 2007, Dr. Orestes-Alvarez Jacinto, a former clinic doctor, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleasing guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In August 2007, Saint Jude's medical biller, Rita Campos Ramirez, pleaded guilty to a $170 million conspiracy to commit health care fare. Her sentencing was scheduled for Wednesday.