Robin Kurtzer, accused of sharing patient DNA samples in $1.3M Medicare scam
A Monsey doctor and his wife face federal charges of taking kickbacks and bribes for ordering more than $1 million in genetic tests from patients during schemes that continued through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yitzchok “Barry” Kurtzer, 61, and Robin Kurtzer, 60, are
accused of billing Medicare for more than $1.3 million, starting in 2018, the
U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said in a news release on Friday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said a grand jury
11-count indictment charges the Kurtzers received monthly cash kickbacks and
bribes in exchange for collecting DNA samples from Medicare patients and
sending the samples for genetic tests to clinical laboratories in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania.
The indictment: Yitzchok “Barry” Kurtzer and Robin Kurtzer
of Monsey face charges
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Lawyers for the Kurtzers could not immediately be reached
for comment on Monday. The couple were arrested in July 2020 and released that
month on $250,000 bond.
According to the criminal complaint, Yitzchok Kurtzer
practiced medicine in three Pennsylvania offices, in Scranton, Lake Ariel and
Greenwood.
The kickbacks ranged up to $5,000, Honig said. The Kurtzers
first accepted cash in one of Yitzchok Kurtzer’s offices, at times behind
locked doors, Honig said, and later through wire payments and an app.
Yitzchok Kurtzer worked as a primary care physician with
offices in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area. Robin Kurtzer helped manage those
offices.
Yitzchok Kurtzer is accused of conducting genetic test swab
collection, regardless of medical necessity.
The Kurtzers were recorded receiving and discussing many of
their kickback and bribe payments, according to the prosecutor's office.
At one point, the Kurtzers "complained that they were
not getting paid enough and negotiated for higher kickbacks and bribes," Honig
said.
After Yitzchok Kurtzer accepted a $5,000 cash kickback, he
counted the money and said, “Perfect. Didn’t short me," the news release
states.
He instructed his staff to stop collecting genetic test
swabs when he missed receiving a bribe and kickback payment, the prosecutor's
office said, and he increased the volume of genetic test swabs when the
kickback and bribe payments resumed.
He admitted in a recording that he provided a patient false
information to get the patient to agree to be swabbed for a genetic test. And
unless a patient actively sought their genetic test results, Yitzchok Kurtzer
failed to review or otherwise use those results.
Two of Yitzchok Kurtzer’s employees, Amber Harris and Shanelyn
Kennedy, have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme, Honig said. Lee
Besen and Kimberly Schmidt also have each pleaded guilty to a related
cash-for-genetic tests scheme. Sentencings are pending.
Honig said Harris and Kennedy, for example, each helped
collect the DNA swabs in exchange for payments to them.
Robin Kurtzer was recorded saying Harris and Kennedy should
not have to be “bribed” to do their work, Honig said, but Robin Kurtzer also is
recorded saying she had no trouble “giving them money” as long as they produced
results.
Honig said the Kurtzers improvised as the COVID-19 pandemic
reduced in-patient visits. They went from receiving hand-delivered cash to
accepting payments by wire and through a cellphone money-transfer app, Honig
said.
Yitzchok Kurtzer is also accused of offering to pay one of
his employees to collect genetic test swabs from all of his patients who lived
in nursing homes.
The Kurtzers face federal charges that include kickback
conspiracy, violations of the anti-kickback statute, illegal remunerations for
referrals to laboratories, and the Travel Act. Yitzchok Kurtzer faces a count
of health care fraud.
The kickbacks, illegal remunerations, and health care fraud
charges are each punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. The kickback
conspiracy and Travel Act charges bring a maximum of five years in prison.
All 11 counts are also punishable by a $250,000 fine, or
twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
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