A Coachella Valley, Fla., physician who stole patient identities, used other physicians' prescription pads to obtain painkillers for herself and filed false workers' compensation and police reports, has been sentenced to a year in jail and five years probation, according to a KESQ report.
Lisa Michelle Barden, MD, pleaded guilty to 274 felony charges and was convicted of two more counts last week. She will serve 180 days of her term in jail, with the remainder to be served on weekends after house arrest. She must also perform 1,000 hours of community service, enroll in a narcotics addiction program and undergo routine drug testing, according to the report.
Dr. Barden has also been forbidden from practicing medicine for three years, after which time she must be reinstated by a medical board. Attorneys will hold a restitution hearing in the next several months to determine whether Dr. Barden must pay up to $600,000 to the insurance companies she defrauded.
Dr. Barden was arrested in Jan. 2009 after a yearlong investigation by the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Riverside Regional Pharmaceutical Narcotic Enforcement Team.
Read the KESQ report on Dr. Barden.
Read more on fraud and abuse:
-RACs and Medicare Administrative Contractors to Work Together
-Pennsylvania Ophthalmologist Accused of Filing $15M in False Claims
-10 Big Anti-Kickback Cases Involving Hospitals in 2010
Lisa Michelle Barden, MD, pleaded guilty to 274 felony charges and was convicted of two more counts last week. She will serve 180 days of her term in jail, with the remainder to be served on weekends after house arrest. She must also perform 1,000 hours of community service, enroll in a narcotics addiction program and undergo routine drug testing, according to the report.
Dr. Barden has also been forbidden from practicing medicine for three years, after which time she must be reinstated by a medical board. Attorneys will hold a restitution hearing in the next several months to determine whether Dr. Barden must pay up to $600,000 to the insurance companies she defrauded.
Dr. Barden was arrested in Jan. 2009 after a yearlong investigation by the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Riverside Regional Pharmaceutical Narcotic Enforcement Team.
Read the KESQ report on Dr. Barden.
Read more on fraud and abuse:
-RACs and Medicare Administrative Contractors to Work Together
-Pennsylvania Ophthalmologist Accused of Filing $15M in False Claims
-10 Big Anti-Kickback Cases Involving Hospitals in 2010