From: rpattree2@gmail.com   
      
   United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York   
      
   10/30/2013 | Press release   
      
   Former Veterans Affairs Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Medicare Fraud   
      
   distributed by noodls on 10/30/2013 13:50   
      
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   Department of Justice   
   Office of Public Affairs   
   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
   Wednesday, October 30, 2013   
   Former Veterans Affairs Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Medicare Fraud   
      
   Dr. Mikhail L. Presman, a licensed psychiatrist employed by the Department of   
   Veterans Affairs (VA), pleaded guilty today to health care fraud for falsely   
   billing Medicare for home medical treatment to Medicare beneficiaries and   
   agreed to forfeit more    
   than $1.2 million in illegal profits.    
      
   Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department's   
   Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch of the Eastern District of New   
   York, and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O'Donnell of the U.S. Department of   
   Health and Human    
   Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.   
      
   According to court documents, from Jan. 1, 2006, through May 10, 2013, Presman   
   submitted approximately $4 million in Medicare claims for home treatment of   
   Medicare beneficiaries notwithstanding his full-time, salaried position as a   
   psychiatrist at the VA    
   hospital in Brooklyn.  Contrary to his representations, Presman did not   
   provide any treatment to a substantial number of the beneficiaries he claimed   
   to have treated.  For example, Presman submitted claims to Medicare for home   
   medical visits at locations    
   within New York City even though he was physically located in China at the   
   time of these purported home visits.  Additionally, Presman submitted claims   
   to Medicare for 55 home medical visits to beneficiaries who were hospitalized   
   on the date of the    
   purported visits.   
      
   Presman is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser of   
   the Eastern District of New York on Feb. 13, 2014, and faces a maximum   
   sentence of 10 years in prison.   
      
   The case was investigated by the HHS-OIG, with assistance from the Department   
   of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and brought as part of the   
   Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division's   
   Fraud Section and the    
   U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.  The case is   
   being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bryan D. Fields of the Fraud Section and   
   Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia E. Notopoulos of the Eastern District of New   
   York.   
      
   Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now   
   operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500   
   defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5   
   billion.  In addition, HHS's    
   Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG,   
   is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of   
   fraudulent providers.   
      
   To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action   
   Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.   
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