A licensed psychologist from Illinois Chicago, Renato F. Duarte, 63, was convicted guilty of four counts of health care fraud by the federal jury of defrauding Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for his psychotherapy services that later on proved were never provided.
Renato Duarte’s fraudulent services claims from July 2016 to June 2019 were providing nursing homes for patients in Chicago and in the proximity, including, fraudulently billing for in-person services on dates that Duarte was out of the country and fraudulently billing for psychotherapy purportedly provided to patients who were deceased. These convictions were supported by shreds of evidence presented at the trial. Duarte will be sentenced on April 18 and will face up to 10 years in prison on each count.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and HHSOIG, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat healthcare fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $19 billion.
SOURCE: JUSTICE.GOV | OCTOBER 24 2022