An internal medicine doctor was convicted of accepting more than $200,000 in kickbacks for sending patient samples to particular labs. After a two-day trial, it took a federal jury just 14 minutes to find Dr. Hector Ubaldo, 60, guilty of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and solicitation and receipt of illegal kickbacks. According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Ubaldo accepted cash from so-called “marketers” in return for sending patients’ blood and urine samples to particular labs, including R.K. Clinical, which then billed insurance companies and Medicare for running diagnostic tests.
Dr. Ubaldo also entered into sham medical advisory agreements with the labs and marketers, whereby he was supposed to provided advisory services in exchange for a monthly fee. The labs and marketers had no need for these advisory services and Dr. Ubaldo provided no such services. Instead, the medical advisory service agreements served as a fraudulent vehicle to funnel kickback payments to Dr. Ubaldo in exchange for his sending samples to specific labs. On multiple occasions, one of the marketers met with Dr. Ubaldo at his office and handed over thousands of dollars in cash. Surreptitiously recorded video of the meetings was introduced into evidence in court. Over the course of the scheme, Dr. Ubaldo accepted more than $253,000 in bribes. The lab was able to bill insurers roughly $3.4 million as result of their illegal relationship with Dr. Ubaldo.
