Huntingdon Valley Doctor Charged in Alleged Kickback Scheme

The following is from the U.S. Department of Justice:

Eugene Goldman M.D., 54, of Huntingdon Valley, was charged in an alleged kickback scheme arising from his employment as a medical director at Home Care Hospice Inc. (HCH), a hospice care provider in Philadelphia, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Goldman was arrested yesterday morning by agents with the FBI and Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

The indictment charges Goldman, also known as Yevgeniy Goldman, with violations of the federal anti-kickback statute and a conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute. According to the indictment, Goldman was a physician licensed by and practicing in the state of Pennsylvania between December 2000 and March 2009 and served as the medical director of HCH between December 2000 and July 2011. Goldman allegedly regularly referred Medicare or Medicaid patient beneficiaries to HCH.

Source: Goldman's lawyer says he will fight charges

HCH was co-owned by Matthew Kolodesh, who is charged in a separate indictment, and hospice director for HCH Alex Pugman, also charged separately. HCH was a for-profit business that provided hospice services for patients at nursing homes, hospitals and private residences.
 
According to the indictment, Pugman directed and caused others, including his spouse, Svetlana Ganetsky, also charged separately, to pay illegal kickbacks and bribes, to professionals who referred Medicare and Medicaid patient beneficiaries to HCH. As alleged in the indictment, Pugman and Ganetsky paid kickbacks to Goldman in checks drawn on an HCH bank account or in cash. To conceal the fact that kickbacks were paid, Pugman and Goldman allegedly entered a written contract to create the false appearance that all payments to Goldman from HCH were for services rendered in Goldman’s capacity as medical director for HCH.
 
The indictment further alleges that from January 2004 to October 2008, HCH made payments to Goldman totaling approximately $228,773 for Medicare and Medicaid patient referrals. Finally, the indictment charges that on five separate occasions, between January and March 2009, Goldman solicited and received payments by cash and/or checks for patient referrals.
      
If convicted of all charges, Goldman faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each charge and a fine of up to $250,000.  A conviction also results in mandatory exclusion from participation in any federal health care program.
 
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne B. Ercole and Trial Attorney Margaret Vierbuchen of the Organized Crime and Gang Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.