Nassau MD Gets 2 1/2 Years In Prison For $3M Medicare Billing Fraud

GREAT NECK, NY — A Great Neck doctor who pleaded guilty in March to illegally billing Medicare over $3 million over five years is heading to prison for 2 1/2 years, prosecutors said Thursday.

Morris Bernard, a 58-year-old gastroenterologist, fraudulently billed Medicare for procedures on disabled patients. He was reimbursed $1.4 million from 2015 to 2020, which he is now ordered to pay back.

“The defendant was not entitled to one penny of the $1.4 million in precious public health care funds that he pocketed," U.S. attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

Bernard billed Medicare for colonoscopy and gastroenterological procedures that he didn't perform, mostly on disabled patients living in residential group homes, prosecutors detailed.