In Texas a shocking case of healthcare fraud at the hands of a brazen doctor. According to reports, Rheumatologist Jorge Zamora-Quezada bilked his patients and their insurance company out of more than $100m.
The Lowdown
A shocking case of healthcare fraud in Texas is making headlines. According to the case against Zamora-Quezada, 68, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his brazen scheme that included falsely misdiagnosing his patients as having rheumatoid arthritis and then billing their insurances for related services. In total he allegedly schemed more than $118m from insurance companies in the process.
According to the indictment by the Department of Justice, the scheme started in his Mission TX office and was aided by a number of staffers at his practice. Staffers that prosecutors and the feds argued that he intimidated and left them scared because of his status and money.
The crime gets worse. Per the case, he misdiagnosed his patients with a host of issues they didn’t have. In turn, they’d bill their insurances for unnecessary procedures and treatments including X-Ray and related services that they didn’t actually need. In case it couldn’t get scarier, he also wrongfully prescribed medications that could have had toxic consequences numerous times.
His fraud was widespread. For Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and Blue Cross Blue Shield he defrauded $28m alone.
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