Henry Lora, MD, former director of a Miami-area medical clinic, was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused approximately $30 million in losses, according to the Department of Justice.
Dr. Lora served as the medical director of Merfi Corp., a clinic in Coral Gables, Fla. The clinic employed physicians and other medical professionals who wrote prescriptions for home health services.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, Dr. Lora admitted he and his co-conspirators wrote Medicare beneficiaries prescriptions for home health services that were not medically necessary or not provided. He said they wrote the fraudulent prescriptions in exchange for kickbacks and bribes from home healthcare agencies. Dr. Lora also admitted to falsifying patient records to make it appear as if beneficiaries qualified for home health services.
In February, Dr. Lora pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., receive kickbacks and make false statements relating to healthcare matters.
In addition to his prison sentence, Dr. Lora was also ordered to pay $30.3 million in restitution.
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