A podiatrist pleaded guilty to his role in a $3.4 million fraud. COVID has kept him out of prison
In the 11 months since Palm Springs North podiatrist Richard Mallia pleaded guilty to his role in a $3.4 million Medicare fraud, the COVID-19 pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work. Millions more have felt like prisoners in their homes.
Meanwhile, Mallia has kept his license and COVID has kept him out of prison. At least one of those situations will change by the end of the month.
DOING THE CRIME, DELAYING DOING THE TIME
Online Florida Department of Health records say Mallia’s been a licensed podiatrist since August 2001. But the part that interested prosecutors the most was October 2012 through June 2017, when he worked for Sunshine Medical Care Group and another clinic.
For a serious Medicare fraud, you need a doctor to write prescriptions. And Mallia, his admission of facts says, was their right hand man.
He “wrote home health prescriptions ànd signed plans of care for Medicare beneficiaries he knew did not actually need home health services,” his admission states. “[Mallia] understood that the owners and operators of certain home health agencies, including Brothers, D & V, Elite Home Care, and Florida Patient Care, then used the home health prescriptions and plans of care signed by [Mallia] to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for home health services that were not medically necessary.
“As a result of the Defendant’s participation in this health care fraud conspiracy, Medicare suffered a loss of approximately $3.4 million.”
Sunshine Medical’s president, Juliette Anais Tamayo, can be found in federal prison until July 2024. After Mallia pleaded guilty last March and was sentenced on June 26 to five years, three months and $3.47 million in restitution, his reporting date for Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola was Sept. 4.
But Mallia’s attorneys, unopposed by prosecutors, asked for an extension to Dec. 4 “due to COVID-19.” That was granted. On Nov. 23, they filed another unopposed motion for a second extension to April 5.
“[Mallia], 55 years old, lives with his 85-year-old mother and the two are sheltering in place at her home,” the motion says. “His mother has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. His mother no longer drives and, thus, [Mallia] has been doing all the errands which includes driving his mother to her various doctor’s appointments.
“As we all see, the COVID-19 pandemic has entered a dangerous phase though a light may be at the end of the tunnel with a vaccine hopefully coming in the near future.”
U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga’s sympathies didn’t go all the way to April 5. She ruled Mallia had to report to Pensacola by Feb. 26.
LICENSE TO PRACTICE ON FEET
The Florida Department of Health filed two administrative complaints in January before the Board of Podiatric Medicine, one about Mallia’s guilty plea to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and another about Mallia being dropped from the state’s Medicaid program for being an admitted fraudster.
These filings get the disciplinary ball rolling, although the usual speed of the discipline process is that of a ball rolling uphill.
Mallia’s license expired on March 31, 2020 and is marked “DELINQUENT” in his online entry.