Florida man convicted in $15M Medicare scheme targeting seniors with unneeded blood tests

A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida has convicted a Coral Springs man of a scheme that billed Medicare more than $15 million for blood tests elderly patients did not want or need, the Justice Department announced.

Joseph Rodriguez, 58, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud, according to the department. He was vice president of a testing laboratory and owned and operated a separate marketing company, Phoenix Health.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Rodriguez targeted elderly residents of country club communities in the West Palm Beach area who wanted COVID-19 nasal swab and blood antibody tests during the pandemic. Prosecutors said he organized drive-through testing events through Phoenix Health. Patients who signed up were also subjected to tens or even hundreds of additional, unnecessary blood tests that no doctor had ordered, ranging from hormone tests to tests for heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and cadmium.

Those tests were then billed to Medicare as medically necessary and ordered by a treating physician, prosecutors said. The Justice Department said Rodriguez marketed the events to the clubs, directed staff to draw extra blood and caused a doctor’s name to be fraudulently listed on the claims.

The scheme spanned nine clubs over roughly four months and involved almost 2,000 patients, according to the department. Medicare was billed more than $15 million and paid over $500,000.

Evidence at trial included patient complaints sent to Rodriguez, complaints from one doctor who wondered why Medicare had been billed thousands of dollars for blood tests in the doctor’s name, and questions from club managers about why members were receiving extra blood tests.

“The defendant took advantage of patients desperate for COVID-19 tests at the height of the pandemic,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.

Miranda L. Bennett, acting deputy inspector general for investigations at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, said Rodriguez placed personal gain above the well-being of elderly people and threatened the integrity of the health care system.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles said the verdict “reflects the strength of the evidence.”

Rodriguez faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count. The court will schedule a sentencing hearing for January 2027, according to the department. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case. Assistant Deputy Chief James V. Hayes and Trial Attorney Claire Horrell of the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section are prosecuting it.

The Justice Department said its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently made up of nine strike forces, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.