Estate Has to Pay $650,000 for Deceased Doctor's Overbillings

Monday, April 9, 2018 | 0

A Pennsylvania physician fraudulently upcoded medical treatments on injured postal workers for more than 10 years, and now his estate has agreed to pay $625,000 to settle False Claims Act allegations, the U.S. Attorney announced this week.

Dr. Leroy Pelicci of Scranton made false claims to the federal workers' compensation system for trigger point injections so that his practice could receive higher reimbursements from 2003 to 2014, officials said.

Pelicci died in 2014, but authorities said his estate had agreed to pay for the cost of the overbillings and the cost of the investigation.

The U.S. Postal Service pays about $3 billion per year in workers compensation costs, and “today’s settlement should serve as a warning to those who would attempt to defraud the government," said Postal Service Special Agent Scott Rezendes, who assisted in the investigation.