Dermatologist and Pathologist Face Trial on Kickback Charges

A Florida dermatologist and pathologist who allegedly collaborated in a kickback scheme that netted each of them more than $3 million in Medicare billings are heading to court after a federal judge denied their requests to dismiss the charges.

Steven Jay Wasserman, MD, a Venice, Fla., dermatologist, and Jose SuarezHoyos, MD, the president and medical director of Tampa Pathology Laboratory, had allegedly entered into a kickback arrangement in 1997, according to Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

"In an effort to increase the number of Medicare referrals Wasserman made to TPL," the judge noted, "Suarez and TPL allowed Wasserman to bill Medicare for the professional component for the specimen, even though he did not do the work that would permit him to seek such reimbursement."

Between 2000 and 2005, the court order says, Dr. Wasserman and Dr. SuarezHoyos submitted more than 35,700 fraudulent Medicare claims each, netting the dermatologist more than $3.5 million and the pathology lab more than $3.9 million in reimbursements.

The lawsuit, originally filed as a whistleblower action by Alan Freedman, MD, who worked for the pathology lab from 2000 to 2003, was amended and re-filed by federal prosecutors last year.

Dr. Wasserman and Dr. SuarezHoyos did not immediately return calls seeking comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney handling the case declined to comment.

David Bernard