Psychologist guilty of fraud

from this report out of Corpus Christi

A 53-year-old psychologist with a professional office in Corpus Christi has been convicted of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid for millions of dollars, officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot said Friday.

A jury in a Corpus Christi federal courtroom found Joe Luis Lerma guilty Wednesday of nine counts of health care fraud. Lerma was accused of billing Medicare and Medicaid for services not performed by a licensed psychologist, not provided under the supervision of a licensed psychologist, or not provided at all, or for double billing for services over a 2 1/2-year period beginning in September 2002, officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Between January 2002 and June 2006, Lerma billed Medicare/Medicaid more than $1.7 million for two procedures, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorneys' Office.

An Oct. 24 sentencing hearing has been set by U.S. District Judge Hayden Head, who presided over the trial. Lerma faces as many as 10 years in prison for each of the nine counts. He also could face up to $250,000 in fines on each count, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

"Texans will not tolerate the abuse of our Medicare system and those who depend on it for their health care," Abbot said in a press release.

According to evidence presented in the five-day trial, federal investigators found Lerma hired people with master's degrees in the psychological field to do psychological testing on a contract basis. Some were licensed by the Texas State Board of Psychologists and some were trainees, the press release states.

Under Medicaid regulations, psychologists cannot bill for services performed by others, officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Furthermore, Lerma used the subcontractors to perform testing, paying them $125 to $150 to perform examinations, the press release states. Medicaid was billed $750 for each test and $150 for the interview session.

Lerma is free on bond until his sentencing hearing, the release added. A phone call to his office went to a voice mailbox for the practice.