Doctor charged with pandemic-related health care fraud

A Great Neck-based doctor has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of more than $1.3 million by submitting fraudulent claims in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said Wednesday.

Dr. Perry Frankel, a cardiologist and the owner and operator of Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics PLLC in Great Neck, allegedly submitted claims to the taxpayer-funded health care programs for medical care that was not performed on patients who received COVID-19 tests at mobile testing sites operated by his company across Long Island. Some of the submitted claims were on dates when Frankel was out of the state, prosecutors said.

The indictment charged Frankel, 64, of Roslyn, with three counts of health care fraud in connection with billing submitted last year.

“As alleged, exploiting a public health crisis by using patients who received COVID-19 tests at mobile testing sites to fraudulently bill Medicare and Medicaid for fictitious office visits is reprehensible,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “This Office and our law enforcement partners will vigorously prosecute those who take advantage of the pandemic to steal from taxpayer-funded programs."

Frankel pleaded not guilty during his initial court appearance in federal court in Central Islip Wednesday afternoon and was ordered released on a $250,000 unsecured bond.

According to the indictment, from September 2020 to March 2022, Frankel and others “submitted and caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims” that were “medically unnecessary, not provided as represented and ineligible for reimbursement.”

Frankel’s Jericho-based defense attorney, Timothy Sini, in a statement, said: “The Government, as part of a larger initiative, is targeting health care providers who supposedly took advantage of the pandemic to benefit themselves financially. Nothing could be further from the truth here — Dr. Frankel provided a much needed service during a public health crisis and an extremely challenging time."

Sini, the former Suffolk County district attorney, described Frankel as a respected cardiologist who helped save lives during the pandemic, doing mobile medical screenings for law enforcement, school districts and communities across Long Island and New York City.

"Dr. Frankel stepped up and brought much needed COVID-19 testing to the community. He has been recognized for his service by many, including the White House,” Sini said.

The charges against Frankel are part of what federal authorities described as a coordinated health care fraud enforcement action that has resulted in criminal charges against 21 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes related to COVID-19 involving more than $149 million in false and fraudulent claims.

In Frankel’s case, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert on Wednesday instituted bail conditions, including that Frankel surrender his passport and be restricted to travel within the continental United States unless he gets permission to go elsewhere.

But Seybert sided with Frankel’s defense attorney over the government’s request that Frankel be restricted from continuing to bill claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs.

Sini argued that his client should be permitted to bill Medicare, saying the continued health of his medical practice — and therefore the funding of his legal defense — was dependent on it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Lyons argued that Medicare was the “victim” of Frankel’s conduct and barring him from billing the taxpayer-funded program is “essential to protect the victim from further economic harm.”

But Seybert said it would be “impossible” for Frankel to continue his medical practice without billing Medicare and ordered the prosecution and defense to work out a system to monitor Frankel’s billing.

“It would be kind of like someone saying to you, ‘you can still practice as a lawyer but we’re not going to pay you,’” Seybert said to Lyons.

Sini told the judge that the case should not have been brought criminally because it was simply “an issue of billing” during the pandemic, at a time when “rules were in flux.”

“This is not a criminal case,” Sini said.

Frankel spoke to Newsday in an interview published in April 2020 about his efforts to provide cardiovascular health screenings during the pandemic, when many patients were staying home to avoid potential coronavirus infection. Frankel, who said he was traversing Long Island and Queens in a 40-foot bus outfitted as a mobile medical unit, said he could provide blood pressure readings, lab work, electrocardiograms and stress tests from the bus.

 “We’re taking the buses to take care of the patients where they live, in their houses and their neighborhoods,” Frankel said. “Buses are sterilized in between patients and again at the end of the day. Everybody’s supposed to stay home, so people still need to get their blood pressure checked, people still get chest pains, shortness of breath, other issues. So we’re there to help take care of their non-corona issues while we’re trying to [stop] the corona. This is the time, I told my staff, we gotta step up …. We can’t just abandon everyone now when they can’t get out to doctors. 

With Michael O’Keeffe 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.