by Ben Vernia | October 5th, 2010
The Department of Justice announced on October 4 that a New Orleans physician and a medical equipment supplier have pleaded guilty to a $300,000 Medicare fraud scheme. According to DOJ’s press release:
Medical doctor Dahlia V. Kirkpatrick and Emmanuel M. Komandu each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson in the Middle District of Louisiana to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. At sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 6, 2011, Kirkpatrick and Emmanuel each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine equal to the greater of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss to the United States resulting from the offense.
According to plea documents, Kirkpatrick began working with Komandu in or around January 2005. Komandu was the owner and operator of Alpha Medical Solutions Inc., a purported DME supplier based in Baker, La. Alpha purportedly specialized in the provision of power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories and feeding nutrients to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries.
According to court documents, from approximately January 2005 through February 2010, Komandu and Kirkpatrick submitted and caused the submission, on behalf of Alpha, of approximately $775,019 in fraudulent claims to the Medicare program. The majority of Alpha’ s fraudulent claims were based on prescriptions for medically unnecessary DME that were written and provided by Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick wrote prescriptions for medically unnecessary DME, such as power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories and feeding nutrients. Medicare paid $302,811 to Alpha based on these fraudulent claims.
The case is the first reported convictions of the Baton Rouge health care fraud strike force, which was inaugurated in December, 2009. The cases may be related to a 94-person Medicare fraud takedown that was announced on July 16, 2010.
