Readers of the Allegiant Experts Blog are well aware of its penchant for reporting on the various cases of health care fraud and medical misconduct that take place all over North America. If writing this blog has taught us anything, it’s that perpetrators of the aforementioned crimes come in all shapes and sizes.
Fraudsters are everywhere!
It appears as if there is no one segment of the medical industry that is more prone to acts of fraudulence more than any other. Over the past few years, our blog has highlighted stories of chiropractors, athletic trainers, pharmacists and many other members of the health and wellness community who have joined a long list of practitioners who have been found guilty of defrauding our nation’s health care insurance companies.
Dentists, as you might have guessed, are included on that list. And as 1011now.com reports earlier this week, 59 year-old Gregory R. Garro, Jr. is the latest dentist to join the contemptible ranks of those who have been proven guilty of health care fraud. As the report details, the Omaha, Nebraska dentist was sentenced, this past Monday, to 10 months incarceration.
The sentence also came with a recommendation that five months be served in a residential re-entry center, another five months under home confinement and two years of supervised release. In addition, Garro was ordered to pay restitution to the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services, Medicaid Division in the amount of $82,544.19. He has also been ordered to pay the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals a total of $4738.13.
Garro practiced dentistry in the Omaha area.
“He provided dental services at several nursing homes in Omaha and in Iowa. Between February 12, 2013 and January 22, 2016, Garro submitted 129 claims to Nebraska Medicaid for services which had not been provided, and was paid a total of $82,544.19 on those claims,” explains 1011now.com, “He submitted similar claims for services not rendered in Iowa and was paid $4738.19 by the Iowa Medicaid program.”
Garro’s recent sentencing does not represent his first run-in with the law. The report explains that he was previously indicted on no less than 24 counts of health care fraud earlier this year. He pled guilty to one count on March 13, 2018. Back in 2010, as part of a civil action for violating the Nebraska False Medicaid Claims Act, Garro paid $30,000.00 to settle claims that he had submitted fraudulent billings to Nebraska Medicaid. Evidently, some people never learn.
The most recent case was investigated by the Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and the Medicaid Program Integrity Unit of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. It was prosecuted by the Nebraska Attorney General’s office and the United States Attorney’s office.
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