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Popular CT Eye Doctor Admits To Taking Kickbacks For Bogus Brain Scan Orders

A well-known Connecticut eye doctor admitted in Boston federal court to receiving kickbacks and racking up millions in bogus insurance and Medicare bills by ordering unnecessary brain scans, officials said.

Donald Salzberg

Donald Salzberg

Photo Credit: Donald Salzberg Facebook photo

A licensed medical doctor in the State of Connecticut for 36 years, Donald Salzberg owned and operated Donald J. Salzberg, M.D., on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford, CT.

Salzberg, who lives in Avon, conspired with a principal for a medical diagnostics company to order hundreds of transcranial doppler (TCD) scans in exchange for money between 2014 and 2019, the Massachussetss District Attorney's Office said. TCD scans are brain scans that measure blood flow in parts of the brain. 

Salzberg and the co-conspirator used fake patient diagnoses to order the unnecessary scans, the office reports. The co-conspirator would then submit claims to Medicare and other insurance companies on behalf of the medical diagnostic company for payment. 

In exchange, Salzberg was paid cash kickbacks of $100 to $125 per test that he ordered, as well as sham administrative services fees, federal officials said. The scheme resulted in bogus bills of more than $3 million to Medicare and private insurance companies.

Salbzerg faces up to 15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to receive kickbacks. He also faces a combined fee of $500,000, the office reports. 

A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

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