[ad_1]
An East Meadow chiropractor has been sentenced to prison for his role in defrauding a health insurance firm.
Peter Adamczak, who pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud charges last year, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution and forfeit $180,000, according to a statement from the New York State Inspector General’s office.
An investigation found that between 2016 and 2020, Adamczak submitted more than $1.185 million in insurance claims for acupuncture services that were never provided, which resulted in the private insurer making $994,838 in payments to its beneficiaries, who then delivered the payments to the chiropractor, according to the statement.
“Health insurance fraud is not a victimless crime as it increases the cost of coverage for those who need it most and wastes precious medical resources,” Inspector General Lucy Lang said in the statement. “I want to thank the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace for delivering justice on this case and to the OIG staff who worked on exposing this audacious scheme.”
Records showed that the defendant’s daughter claimed to have received treatment from Adamczak when she was in fact traveling out of state. For other dates, Adamczak claimed to have delivered treatments when he was out of state, the Inspector General’s office said.
Some patients reported that they received “needleless” acupuncture from the chiropractor with a “laser pen.” Others said they received no acupuncture-related treatments at all, including one such person who had $6,000 in acupuncture claims submitted on their behalf, according to the statement.
Investigators also found that a state employee who lives in Brooklyn allegedly received $165,000 worth of acupuncture services three to four times a week despite not having been reasonably able to commute to Long Island that frequently.
“Today’s sentence demonstrates that Adamczak’s long-running scheme, in which he brazenly submitted false and fraudulent billing claims to an insurance provider, ultimately came at a personal cost to the defendant,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in the statement. “This office will continue to hold accountable dishonest healthcare professionals who abuse the trust placed in them by lying and cheating in order to line their own pockets.”
Others who worked on the case included Deputy Inspector General for the Long Island Regional Office Jean Carsey; Downstate Chief of Audit Giovanni Liotine; Senior Investigative Auditor Angelus Okeke; and Investigator Mario Rubino. Lang also thanked the FBI’s New York Field Office and The Empire Plan for their assistance in the matter.
“
[ad_2]
David Winzelberg
Source link