Texas Billing Company Owner Found Guilty of Healthcare Fraud

Sylvia Delgado, who operated MedComp Electronic Billing in Del Rio, Texas, was found guilty of seven counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and two counts of providing false statements relating to healthcare matters, according to a report in the Del Rio News Herald.

Along with Ms. Delgado, Rafael Solis, MD, was convicted on three counts of providing false statements relating to healthcare matters. He was found not guilty of counts of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, healthcare fraud, money laundering and one count of providing false statements relating to healthcare matters.

The charges stem from Synergy Counseling in Del Rio, which claimed to provide psychotherapy treatment for elderly patients but instead provided services that were equivalent to adult day care services, according to government officials.

Ms. Delgado sent more than 49,000 claims to Medicare and Medicaid between Jan. 2002 and Sept. 2005 through MedComp. Synergy collected more than $1.4 million, which was split mostly between Ms. Delgado and Robert Rael, who pleaded guilty to charges in 2007, according to the report. She was also found guilty of billing for services provided on dates when no one at Synergy was available to give therapy and for helping to coerce statements from patients in 2005 when trying to reinstate Medicare payments to Dr. Solis.

Ms. Delgado and Dr. Solis will be sentenced in April 2010.

Read the News Herald's report about the Texas psychotherapy healthcare fraud scheme.