Psychiatrist Convicted in Houston Hospital Medicare Fraud Scheme

Another defendant in the massive $158 million Riverside General Hospital Medicare fraud scheme was convicted May 23 on multiple counts of health-care fraud (United States v. Mazkouri, S.D. Tex., 4:16-cr-213, conviction 5/23/17).

Riyaz Mazkouri (also known as Riaz Mazcuri) was a former psychiatrist at Riverside in Houston, where he signed off on false medical records and documents admitting Medicare patients for intensive partial hospitalization program (PHP) services that they weren’t qualified to receive. Mazkouri billed Medicare for $4.5 million in psychiatric services for Riverside patients, and enabled Riverside to charge Medicare for $55 million in fraudulent claims.

Two ...