New York physician indicted in $10 million health care telemedicine fraud scheme
Raffai and others submitted or caused $10 million in false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare
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A New York physician was charged in an unsealed indictment on Thursday over an alleged $10 million health care fraud scheme.
The Department of Justice announced that Elemer Raffai, 56, is charged with health care fraud for his alleged involvement in an alleged scheme between July 2016 and June 2017, signing prescriptions and other order forms for services that weren't medically necessary, the Department of Justice states.
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The seal of the F.B.I. hangs in the Flag Room at the bureau's headquaters March 9, 2007 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Raffai allegedly signed prescriptions and other order forms through telemedicine services for durable medical equipment that the Department of Justice claims were not medically necessary.
The Justice Department states that Raffai caused the claims to be submitted based on a short telephone conversation for people who he didn't physically examine and evaluate.
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FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2018 file photo, the U.S. Medicare Handbook is photographed in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Images)
In return, the Department of Justice says that Raffai was partially convinced to make the prescriptions and orders due by the payments of bribes and kickbacks.
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The indictment also alleges that Raffai and other individuals either submitted or caused $10 million in false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare, which paid more than $4 million on the claims.
If convicted, the physician faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.