Press Release
BROWARD PHYSICIAN SETTLES ALLEGATIONS OF UNNECESSARY AND IMPROPER TREATMENT FOR $6.7 MILLION
May 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Christopher Dennis, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Region, announced today that the federal government has settled allegations of healthcare fraud against a Broward County doctor, Aleyda Borge, M.D., and the operators of a medical clinic for $6.7 million.
The case is entitled United States v. Aleyda M. Borge, M.D., Leonza Health Management Group, Inc., Thaiz Parra, Modesto Marquez, and Best Option Consulting, Inc., Civil Action Case No. 05-61566-CIV-COHN.
Dr. Borge, who practices internal medicine in Cooper City, was the sole physician at Leonza Health Management Group, an unlicensed medical clinic located in Hollywood, Florida in 2004 and 2005. The clinic primarily treated patients with HIV.
In the civil complaint, the United States alleged various types of fraudulent conduct at the clinic, including that Dr. Borge prescribed medications that were medically unnecessary and/or were medically unreasonable for her patients. In some cases, Dr. Borge never saw the patients for whom she was prescribing medication. The United States also alleged that kickbacks were paid to every patient of the clinic to induce them to become patients.
The settlement represents twice the amount that Medicare paid Dr. Borge based on claims from the clinic. In addition, the settlement excludes Dr. Borge from participating in all federal healthcare programs. In separate criminal proceedings, the owner of the clinic, Thaiz Parra, was sentenced to 54 months in prison for her role in the fraud.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Region. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey W. Dickstein and Mark Lavine in Miami, Florida.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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