A New York doctor was found guilty by a federal jury for causing the submission of over $24 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Alexander Baldonado, MD, 69, of Queens, received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering laboratory tests, including expensive cancer genetic tests, that were billed to Medicare by two related laboratories located in New York. As part of the scheme, Baldonado authorized hundreds of cancer genetic tests for Medicare beneficiaries who attended COVID-19 testing events at assisted living facilities, adult day care centers, and a retirement community in 2020. Baldonado was not treating any of the patients who attended the testing events and, in many cases, did not speak to or examine the patients prior to ordering cancer genetic tests and other laboratory tests for them.
Baldonado also billed Medicare for lengthy office visits that he never provided to these patients. Several Medicare patients for whom Baldonado ordered cancer genetic tests and billed for office visits testified at trial that they did not know who Baldonado was and had never met or spoken to him. Baldonado did not contact the patients after the testing events to review the results of the cancer genetic tests, and, in some cases, the patients never received the test results. In addition to the laboratory testing scheme, Baldonado also received illegal cash kickbacks and bribes from the owner of a durable medical equipment supply company in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The evidence presented at trial showed Baldonado on an undercover video receiving a large sum of cash in exchange for signed prescriptions for orthotic braces.