Metro

Man blows whistle on health-care chain – run by his own dad – for fraud

Talk about a family feud.

Park Avenue Medical Associates, which runs 120 health-care facilities across New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, settled Medicare fraud allegations brought by the son of the chain’s chief medical officer and founding partner, The Post has learned.

The Manhattan US Attorney’s office, which picked up the whistleblower’s complaint in March, agreed to settle a probe and Park Avenue Medical agreed to pay a $1 million settlement, according to documents filed in Manhattan federal court Thursday.

In the settlement, Park Avenue Medical admits to instances of overbilling.

The whistleblower, Zachery Woflson, is sure to get a nice slice of the settlement, as cases filed under the so-called False Claims Act allow for bounties of between 15 and 25 percent, experts said.

The money won’t make family gathering any easier, however.

Wolfson’s father, Dr. Mitchell Wolfson, is the chain’s chief medical officer and a founding partner, according to sources familiar with the case.

The son accused the chain, including celebrity doctor Jeffrey Gardere, of repeatedly billing Medicare for services that were not medically necessary — or that did not comply with Medicare rules.

Gardere, for example, allegedly used a code for comprehensive psychological exams — one that tends to be used just once at the start of a new case — seven times on a single patient in just a three-month period, the complaint said.

Gardere, who makes frequent TV appearances and who was not named as a defendant in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, Park Avenue Medical said: “Park Avenue fully cooperated with the government during the course of this inquiry. It is pleased that this matter is now settled and that the uncertainties and cost of protracted litigation with the government have been avoided. Park Avenue looks forward to continuing to provide high-quality and caring medical services to its patients, as it has done throughout the years.”

Wolfson’s lawyer, Brett Joshpe, said he is “pleased” with the resolution.

“The government recovered nearly $5 billion last year as a result of whistleblowers, and this is a great example of the public and private sector working together,” he said.

Catching health-care fraud has been a priority of the Obama administration, and the Justice Department asked the Department of Health and Human Services for an additional $71.7 million this year to catch health-care fraud.

kwhitehouse@nypost.com