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Hal Abrahamson, 57, of Melville, a podiatrist with offices in Plainview and Queens, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme. Abrahamson was also ordered to pay $869,652 in restitution, a $50,000 fine and will forfeit $177,000.
Abrahamson pleaded guilty on June 26 last year to one count of health care fraud in connection to a scheme he operated out of his practices.
U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said that Abrahamson’s scheme was ongoing from January 2013 through January 2017.
Abrahamson pleaded guilty to fraudulently billing techniques that included billing for skin grafts and wound packing services never performed; billing for work purportedly done by another podiatrist whose reimbursement rate was higher, but which was in fact done by Abrahamson, or not at all, and billing for more expensive procedures than those actually performed.
Donoghue said that Abrahamson billed for the skin graft procedures 1,092 over a four-year period, during which a podiatrist with a comparable practice in Plainview billed only once and another podiatrist in the defendant’s office billed only five times.
Abrahamson billed for the wound packing procedure 757 times over a four-year stretch, and would routinely add this to his false billing under another podiatrist’s name, Donoghue noted.
“Greed dictated this doctor’s billing practices,” Donoghue said. “The defendant stole a million dollars from Medicare and private insurance companies but has been brought to justice.” Mr. Donoghue thanked the FBI and HHS-OIG for their outstanding work on the case.
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