Marguerite Garcia, owner of Orthopedic Specialists, and her husband, Eleazar Garcia, were both convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud by submitting false claims. Ms. Garcia was also convicted on 12 separate counts of healthcare fraud, some of which Mr. Garcia was also convicted, according to the report.
Orthotist John Martinez was found not guilty of conspiracy but was convicted on six counts of healthcare fraud, according to the report. Frank Martinez, another orthotist and John Martinez’s brother, was acquitted of all charges.
According to the conviction, between Feb. 2002 and Dec. 2008, the Garcias false listed the Martinezes as being the licensed on-site orthotists for Orthopedic Specialists, which had lost its Medicare provider number and accreditation in 2002, according to the report. Texas law requires an orthotist to be on-site for the fitting and sale of devices that help correct conditions as the result of neuromuscular or musculoskeletal disease, injury or deformity.
In exchange for using the Martinezes’ names, the Garcias paid the Martinezes’ company, San Antonio Orthotics & Artificial Limbs, $643,000 of the $800,530 of the money the Garcias received from Medicaid and Medicare, according to the report.
The three convicted face sentences of up to 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000.
Read the Express-News’s report on the Corpus Christi healthcare fraud scheme.
