Fil-Am doctor convicted of $24 million Medicare fraud
Photo from Alexander Baldonado/Facebook
LOS ANGELES – Alexander Baldonado, a Filipino American physician from Queens, New York, has been found guilty of submitting over $24 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces.
Court documents show Baldonado, 69, received tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering laboratory tests, including expensive cancer genetic tests that were billed to Medicare.
Baldonado authorized hundreds of cancer genetic tests for Medicare beneficiaries who attended COVID-19 testing events at assisted living facilities, adult day care centers and a retirement community in 2020.
“Baldonado was not treating any of the patients who attended the testing events and, in many cases, did not speak to or examine the patients prior to ordering cancer genetic tests and other laboratory tests for them,” stated a press release from the US Department of Justice, dated Feb. 11.
Baldonado also billed Medicare for office visits but many of the patients testified that they had never met the Fil-Am physician. In some cases, the patients never received the results of the tests billed to Medicare.
An undercover video presented as evidence showed Baldonado receiving a large sum of cash in exchange for signed prescriptions for orthotic braces.
“The medically unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces that Baldonado ordered in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes caused Medicare to be billed more than $24 million,” the press release said.
“Medicare paid more than $2.1 million to the laboratories and the durable medical equipment supply company involved in the schemes.”
Baldonado was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud; six counts of health care fraud; one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay, offer, receive and solicit health care kickbacks; one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive and solicit health care kickbacks; and one count of solicitation of health care kickbacks.
Baldonado is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.
