government
Ophthalmologist convicted of 150 fraud counts
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 5, 2011
A federal jury on Aug. 22 convicted a former Temple University physician of 150 counts of health care fraud, wire fraud and making false statements, officials said.
Joseph J. Kubacki, MD, 62, submitted thousands of false claims to health insurers while he was the chair of the Ophthalmology Dept. at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia from 2002 to 2007, attorneys for the Dept. of Justice said.
Prosecutors said Dr. Kubacki directed staff employees to stack patient charts outside his door at the main campus of the university hospital. The patients had been treated by other physicians, but Dr. Kubacki would make notes on charts to indicate he saw the patients. The submitted claims totaled $4.5 million.
Dr. Kubacki, who had left Temple to live in Florida, will be sentenced by an Eastern District of Pennsylvania judge at a later date. He faces more than seven years in prison and $36 million in fines.
Judson A. Aaron, an attorney for Dr. Kubacki with Conrad O'Brien PC in Philadelphia, said a decision to appeal the conviction would be made at the time of sentencing. Aaron declined to comment further on the case.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/09/05/gvbf0905.htm.
