Impact of Naples doctor submitting $2.6M fraudulent Medicare claims 

A physician in Naples is accused of submitting false and fraudulent Medicare claims, according to the Department of Justice.

The DOJ said Dr. Omar Saleh submitted $2.6 million in false and fraudulent Medicare claims.

He’s a part of a $1.2 billion fraud case with 36 defendants in 13 federal districts.

Dr. Jeffrey Janeiro, a Medicare Fraud Attorney said, “this certainly rises to that level of doing serious damage to the valid doctors and to the valid people that are sick and unable to get in.”

WINK News spoke with Janeiro to find out what kind of impact a case like this has.

“Because this guy did this, it impacts you and me. Why? Because people are no longer going to be able to get these tests because medicare is almost never going to approve it. Because it’s too easy to cheat the system,” Janeiro said.

The doctors are accused of illegal kickbacks and bribes from laboratory owners and operators in exchange for the referral of patients by medical professionals.

“Everything from here forward is going to have that look of ‘I bet this person is just pulling in some sort of scam.’ So you want to get this test done at your house, you want to do these things. Great, you’re gonna have to jump through 10 hoops instead of one,” Janeiro said.

Saleh is still listed as being licensed on the Florida Department of Health’s website.