The Brooklyn district attorney is cracking down on scamming doctors and pharmacists — especially those who take advantage of ObamaCare to bilk Medicare and Medicaid.
DA Charles Hynes announced yesterday the creation of a new 30-person health-care fraud division, which will be the first of its kind in the nation.
The unit’s chief, Lauren Mack, said the president’s Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress in 2010, creates more opportunities for fraud.
“As the arena of health care gets bigger, the easier it is to exploit it,” she said. “Health care is changing. Fraud is changing. We must stay current to keep up with the criminals, because God knows they are creative.”
Because ObamaCare aims to increase the number of people with health insurance, it will also increase the potential avenues unscrupulous medical providers can use to steal money, officials said.
“With the onset of managed care, fraudulent providers will undoubtedly seek new and creative ways to perpetrate fraud against the system,” Hynes said yesterday.
The division will be the first in the nation to collaborate with city and federal agencies to target scheming medical providers, Hynes said as he announced the indictment of one such suspected scammer.
Dr. Naveed Ahmad was indicted for allegedly cheating Medicare and Medicaid out of almost $500,000.
The doctor hired “steerers” to pay Medicare and Medicaid recipients $300 each to visit the East Flatbush doctor, prosecutors allege.
Ahmad then allegedly billed the recipients’ health plans for the fake treatments and prescriptions, including HIV medications.
“Dr. Ahmad’s waiting room was so full with these fake patients he had to hire a private security guard for crowd control,” Hynes said.