For Medicare fraud to occur, a doctor must write prescriptions, which is precisely what Mallia did when he worked at Sunshine Medical Care Group and one other healthcare clinic. Mallias had been a licensed podiatrist since the summer of 2001.
His admission states that he wrote home health prescriptions and signed plans of Medicare beneficiaries, aware of the fact they did not need home health services. He was well acquainted with the owners and operators of several home health care agencies like D&V Elite Home Care and Florida Patient Care. He then used the prescriptions and planned to submit fraudulent claims to gain reimbursement for home health services that were never needed. As a result, the Medicare program has taken a loss of $3.4 million.
Mallia pleaded guilty in March of 2020 and was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison, along with $3.47 million in restitution. His expected date of arrival in the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, FL, was on September 4, 2020, but Mallias’s attorneys asked for the date to be pushed back to December 4, 2020. Another extension was filed to April 5, but Mallia still is not in prison.
This update is brought to you by Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer Mark Eiglarsh. This information is provided for educational or informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.