Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Morris Barnard, a gastroenterologist practicing in Great Neck, New York, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 30 months in prison for health care fraud. Barnard pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2022. The Court also ordered over $1.4 million in restitution to Medicare.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) and Susan A. Frisco , Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), announced the sentence.
“Today, Dr. Barnard learned the consequences for his greed-driven scheme in which he took advantage of patients who are disabled and living in residential group homes by falsely billing Medicare for medical procedures on them that he never actually performed,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “The defendant was not entitled to one penny of the $1.4 million in precious public health care funds that he pocketed and will now have to pay back as part of his sentence.”
“As the defendant learned today, defrauding Medicare does not pay - it has consequences. The FBI is committed to eradicating all fraud and schemes that abuse government-sponsored health care programs,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.
“Health care professionals who fraudulently bill Medicare for services never actually provided divert taxpayer funding meant to pay for medically necessary services for people enrolled in Medicare,” stated Acting Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Frisco of HHS-OIG. “OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of federal health care programs.”
From October 2015 through February 2020, the defendant submitted over $3 million in billings to Medicare for colonoscopy and gastroenterological procedures that were not performed. Most of these billings indicated that the services were rendered to disabled beneficiaries, who were living in residential group homes. Medicare reimbursed approximately $1.4 million of these false claims, none of which the defendant was entitled to receive.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Charles P. Kelly and Madeline O’Connor.
