Antoine Adem, 49, a Festus physician, pleaded guilty to health care fraud Aug. 20 before U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
A sentencing hearing for Adem is scheduled for Nov. 19. He faces a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine up to $250,000, and Adem’s company, Midwest Cardiovascular Inc., which is based in Festus, faces a fine of up to $500,000, the report said.
From January 2014 to December 2018, Adem and his company submitted or caused to be submitted numerous false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid. The reimbursement claims falsely stated that Adem performed two vein procedures on different days, when he actually performed the two procedures on the same day, according to the report.
As a result, Adem and his company received about $2,000 more per patient than he would have received if he had correctly reported the procedure dates to Medicare and other insurers. In all, Adem and his company received $149,199 more than they were entitled to because of the fraudulent claims, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.