Florida Jury Convicts Lab Executive in $15 Million COVID-Era Medicare Fraud Scheme
A Florida laboratory executive was convicted after federal prosecutors said he used the demand for COVID-19 testing during the pandemic to generate millions of dollars in Medicare claims for blood tests patients never asked for.
Joseph Rodriguez, 58, of Coral Springs, was found guilty by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez targeted elderly residents at country clubs in the West Palm Beach area who signed up for COVID-19 nasal swab and antibody testing during the pandemic.
Contemporaneous community reporting from 2020 shows Rodriguez was already publicly involved in organizing COVID-19 testing for senior residents. The UCO Reporter, which serves Century Village in West Palm Beach, identified Rodriguez at the time as vice president of Alliance Laboratories and co-owner of Phoenix Health.
Extra Tests
The 2020 report said Phoenix Health and Alliance Laboratories were preparing a testing facility inside Century Village and identified the companies as the organizations that would carry out the testing.
Residents were told the testing would be free through Medicare and could register through Phoenix Health.
What patients did not sign up for, according to evidence later presented at Rodriguez’s federal trial, were extensive additional blood tests.
Patients who arrived seeking COVID-19 testing had extra blood drawn for tests ranging from hormone panels to screenings for heavy metals, including arsenic, mercury, and cadmium.
Federal prosecutors said no treating doctor had ordered those additional tests, despite such an order being required.
Rodriguez directed staff to collect the extra blood and caused a doctor’s name to be placed on Medicare claims as though that physician had ordered the testing, according to the DOJ.
Millions Billed
The scheme involved nearly 2,000 patients at nine residential country clubs over roughly four months.
Medicare was billed more than $15 million for the testing and paid more than $500,000 on the claims.
Evidence presented to jurors included complaints from patients as well as messages from doctors whose names appeared on claims.
One doctor questioned why Medicare had been billed thousands of dollars for blood tests purportedly ordered under the doctor’s name.
Managers at some of the country clubs also contacted Rodriguez asking why residents were receiving additional blood tests when they had signed up only for COVID-19 testing.
Local station WPBF reported that court documents identified Rodriguez’s marketing company as Phoenix Health Rising LLC and placed the testing scheme in 2020.
His Lab Role
Rodriguez’s connection to Alliance Laboratories continued beyond the early months of the pandemic.
A later Alliance Laboratories announcement identifying staff at a Boca Raton laboratory listed Rodriguez as vice president of operations for the Boca Raton location, as well as a medical technologist and histotechnologist.
The federal conviction release described Rodriguez as vice president of a testing laboratory but did not name the laboratory.
Jury Verdict
Jurors convicted Rodriguez on all seven fraud-related counts described by prosecutors.
Each count carries a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
A sentencing hearing is expected to be scheduled for January 2027. The eventual sentence will be determined by a federal judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.
