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Flushing doctor pleads guilty to Medicare fraud

From the NY Post:

An octogenarian Queens doctor who let patients dance at his clinic, then passed it off as therapy to scam Uncle Sam, pleaded guilty yesterday.

Ho Yon Kim, 86, of Flushing, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to conspiring to commit health-care fraud.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors say that Kim also rewarded patients with massages, facials and free lunches at his practice to thank them for letting him use their Medicare numbers to submit some $11.7 million worth of false claims on his behalf.

Further, the feds say Kim administered unnecessary electro-stimulation therapy and physical therapy to patients — and billed the government for services that were never performed.

Kim will face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.

No date has been set for his sentencing.

Flushing's Dr. Feelgood

From Fox 5:

A doctor who practices at a clinic in Queens has been arrested and accused of selling numerous prescriptions to a drug abuser who overdosed several times and eventually died, according to authorities.

Police arrested Dr. Stan Li on Saturday at his clinic, Medical Pain Management, in Flushing. He was arraigned in Manhattan on Monday on 15 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance and 5 counts of second-degree reckless endangerment.

He is accused of giving prescriptions for painkillers, including oxycodone, to Michael Cornetta, of Queens, between May 2009 and August 2010, according to the city's special narcotics prosecutor and the NYPD. During that time, Cornetta overdosed at least twice and then died after another overdose in November 2010, officials said.

Li pleaded not guilty, and the judge set bail at $500,000 bond or $100,000 cash.

Flushing docs busted for phony Medicare claims

From the NY Post:

A bunch of crooked Queens doctors paid their patients to take ballroom dance lessons in their clinic basement -- and then masqueraded the sessions as legitimate physical therapy in fraudulent Medicare claims, sources told The Post.

The scheming doctors also rewarded patients with massages, facials and free lunches in their Flushing practices for helping them submit a staggering $11.7 million worth of false claims, officials said.

Among those charged were Ho Yon Kim, 85, a physician, and his son, Gilbert Kim, 59, who served as the office manager, as well as a chiropractor and another doctor.

The Kims also administered unnecessary electro-stimulation therapy and physical therapy to patients -- and even billed for completely fabricated services that were never performed, officials said.

The Kims’ alleged schemes were unveiled yesterday after FBI agents teamed with investigators from the Department of Health and Human Services to arrest a dozen people in a sweep of raids across New York, charging them with participating in several unrelated health-care fraud rings, officials said. None of the patients who helped in the scheme have been charged publicly.

Prescription drug abuse out of control

From Metro:

There’s a battlefront in New York City’s war on drugs, and it doesn’t involve crack cocaine or heroin.

Prescription painkiller abuse is now one of the top concerns for law enforcement officials and doctors.

New York City has seen an 80 percent increase from 2007 to 2010 in admissions to crisis drug treatment programs for those addicted to pills like Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet, according to state health officials.

“It’s a fast-growing problem in northern Manhattan as it is across New York City,” said the city’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Bridget Brennan, at a meeting last week with White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske to discuss the burgeoning epidemic.

Painkiller addiction poses a unique challenge because of the medical infrastructure. “These drugs are prescribed by doctors and obtained through legitimate pharmacies,” Brennan said.

Young adults and teens are particularly at risk for pill addiction, warns Dr. Deni Carise, chief clinical officer at the Phoenix House rehab center, because of the availability of drugs in their homes and the existence of “pill parties.” “Everyone grabs pills from medicine cabinets, puts them in a bowl, takes a handful and sees what happens,” said Carise.

Medicare scam in Brooklyn

From the NY Post:

Keep those lips zipped, comrade -- and help us rip off Uncle Sam for $72 million!

A Brooklyn medical office used a Soviet-era propaganda poster to tell Russian-immigrant patients to keep quiet about kickbacks they were getting for letting doctors submit thousands of bogus Medicare claims in their names, federal prosecutors revealed yesterday.

"Don't gossip!" warned the Russian-language poster that prominently hung in the "kickback room" of the Bay Medical office on Bay Parkway -- where patients literally lined up for illegal payoffs of a couple of a hundred dollars or so each.

But not everyone kept their mouths shut.

Federal authorities got several people to rat out the alleged scam and yesterday arrested dozens of doctors, employees and patients of Bay Medical and other Medicare "mills" elsewhere in Brooklyn and in Miami, Detroit, Houston and Baton Rouge, La.

It is the largest Medicare-fraud prosecution ever, totaling $251 million in funds swindled from the federal health-insurance program.

Featuring a large drawing of a woman holding an index finger to her lips, the not-so-helpful poster reads: "Keep your eyes open. These days even the walls have ears. Chatter and gossip go hand in hand with treason."

Those threats helped Bay Medical steal $72 million by submitting fraudulent claims, prosecutors said.

Closing a community facilities loophole

From SI Live:

Take a short walk around Dongan Hills and you’re apt to pass by the office of a doctor, a dentist, a surgeon, a chiropractor, a physical therapist — and quite possibly, all of the above.

Two years ago, the founder of the Dongan Hills United Civic Association, Bernie Kosinski, cited “overdevelopment,” and specifically, “the proliferation of medical offices” as his community’s most pressing issue.

The Department of City Planning is introducing tighter zoning rules that may appease Staten Islanders who have complained that medical offices and day-care centers are oversized and overabundant, out-of-character and taxing on local traffic and parking.

The new rules aim to prevent the building of the facilities in residentially zoned areas, and to encourage them to be built in commercial zones.

Medical offices across Staten Island already are densely concentrated in commercial and mixed-use areas, including Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road, Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard.

But, often in the form of converted houses, they pop up in residential areas and cluster along roads just off of major thoroughfares.

The proposed legislation calls for new medical facilities in residential areas to be located on lots no smaller than 5,700 square feet. On-site parking must be provided, and owners will not be permitted to seek to have the parking requirement waived.

Day-care centers would not be permitted on lots smaller than 10,000 square feet. That will cut down on the building because lots of that size are scarce in residential neighborhoods, officials told the Advance this month.

In addition to lot-size requirements, day-care centers would have to provide on-site parking for employees, and an on-site drop-off point for children. Most Island sites would require about six parking spots.

City Planning has also closed a loophole that allowed owners to use the basements of their buildings without having that space counted toward the zoning-limited square-footage of the facility.

Existing facilities will be allowed to stay in operation and will not be fined, but will not be permitted to expand beyond the scope of the new regulations.

Parking regulations for the facilities in commercial areas will be relaxed somewhat so that fewer spaces will be required than normal.