2 Hialeah businessmen busted for bilking Medicare for ***** pumps
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
It's one thing that a pair of Hialeah companies were fraudulently billing Medicare for ***** pumps at $395 a pop to supposedly help male patients combat impotence.
It's quite another that Charlie RX and Happy Trips also billed the federal healthcare program for vacuum erection systems to aid female patients battle erectile dysfunction, authorities say.
And what's even more remarkable: Medicare paid the two medical equipment providers $28,600 after they submitted a total of $63,000 in false claims for the erection pumps, according to charges unsealed Monday in federal court in Miami.
The criminal case highlights, yet again, Medicare's chronic problem of paying bills quickly without first verifying them -- a glaring flaw that has undermined the taxpayer-funded system during the past decade.
Emilio Felipe Lopez, 47, president of Charlie RX, and Orlando Hernandez Estevez, 25, president of Happy Trips, were indicted on charges of healthcare fraud in February. Last week, FBI agents arrested the two Hialeah businessmen, who authorities say were in hiding. They have their first appearances in Miami federal court Monday afternoon.
Both defendants are accused of stealing Medicare patients' numbers and doctors' identifications to submit nearly $2 million in bogus bills to the healthcare program for the elderly and disabled between October and February.
Lopez's company, Charlie RX, billed Medicare a total of $689,853 in phony claims for medical equipment, including $41,000 for ***** pumps for both male and female patients, according to authorities. Medicare reimbursed his business $370,853, including $24,000 for the pumps.
Hernandez's company, Happy Trips, submitted $1,188,956 in false claims for inhalation drugs and other medical services, including $22,000 for the erection systems, officials say. Medicare paid his business $364,120, including $4,600 for those systems.
Earlier this year, Medicare shut down payments to both companies after FBI agents discovered a spike in billing activity and reported it to the agency's anti-fraud contractor, Safeguard Services.
