Podiatrist gets 5 months, $25,000 fine - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Dr. Bic Chau Stafford, who practiced at the in Maryland as well as assorted assisted living facilitiesin St. Louis City and St. Louis County, in Aprio to one felony count of obstruction of afederapl audit. Stafford, 59, also executed a civil settlemenyt agreement with the United Statex requiring her to pay the Medicareprogram $425,000. Staffordd billed Medicare for numerous complex foot surgerh procedures provided to 39 locaol Medicare beneficiaries when she was really providing thes patients with only routinefoot care, such as toe nail prosecutors said.
When she was auditedf by the Medicare programin 2007, Medicarr denied her claims for reimbursement regardinyg these 39 beneficiaries and requestexd that she repay $6,840 for non-covered serviced that had been previously paid to her. Staffordr challenged this and as part of her effortas to avoid payingthe overpayment, Stafford created new treatmeng records for those 39 patiente in 2007, back-dating them to 2004, usinyg fraudulent treatment information and claiminyg that she had provided these patients with podiatrix surgical procedure, prosecutors said.