Miami-Dade Pediatrician Arrested for Defrauding Medicaid

December 13, 2007 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL - Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of a Miami-Dade physician for defrauding Florida’s Medicaid program out of more than $65,000. Dr. Jose Joaquin Rodriguez, a Miami pediatrician, was arrested by law enforcement investigators with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in Miami and will be charged with organized theft and grand fraud.

During the course of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s investigation, an analysis of billing claims for a two-year period revealed that Rodriguez was often billing in excess of 24 hours per day and on some days billed as many as 44 hours. The analysis also showed that Rodriguez billed for Sunday office visits even though his office was closed on Sundays. Interviews with Medicaid recipients and further investigations confirmed that Rodriguez often failed to provide the services billed to Medicaid.

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Rodriguez is charged with one count of organized fraud, a first-degree felony, and one count of grand theft, a second-degree felony. If convicted of both charges, he faces up to 45 years in prison and fines of up to $20,000. The case will be prosecuted by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.

Source: Florida Attorney General