(The Center Square) – A Florida man has pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to a $6.9 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare. The scheme involved paying kickbacks and bribes to obtain doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary lab tests that were billed to Medicare, including genetic testing, tests for rare respiratory pathogens, and COVID-19 tests, the U.S. Department of Justice reports.
Christopher Licata, 45, of Delray Beach, owner of Boca Toxicology LLC, admitted that he bribed patient brokers who referred Medicare beneficiaries and doctors’ orders authorizing medically unnecessary genetic testing to his lab, according to court documents.
“Licata and the patient brokers entered into sham agreements to disguise the true purpose of these payments,” DOJ said in a news release. “Once the COVID-19 pandemic began, Licata exploited patients’ fears of COVID-19 by bundling COVID-19 tests with more expensive, medically unnecessary testing, including respiratory pathogen panel testing and, at times, genetic testing for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
All told, his laboratory submitted over $6.9 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary tests, the DOJ reports.
Licata pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud. He’s scheduled to be sentenced March 24 and faces up to 10 years in prison.
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