Health fraud probe in U.S. involves doctor from Quebec
A Canadian-born doctor is at the centre of what’s being called the biggest health-care fraud in U.S. history.
Dr. Jacques Roy, a 54-year-old physician in the Dallas area, has been arrested and charged. He is alleged to have been involved in a scheme that bilked public health programs in the United States of almost $375 million U.S. over five years.
He’s accused of sending out “recruiters” who convinced people to sign falsified forms indicating they’d been patients of Roy, triggering payments from U.S. health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
It’s alleged that billings piled up by Roy grew to very large amount over the last five years.
“To get that kind of money, you’d need to be treating a million people,” said Andrew Selesnick, a Los Angeles attorney who represents physicians. “You’d have to have 30 locations and tons of people going through them.”
Information on the Texas Medical Board’s website says Roy graduated from medical school at Université Laval in Quebec City in 1980. Information described as being provided by Roy but unverified by the medical board said he has been practising medicine for a combined 31 years in Canada and the United States, 27 of which have been in Texas.
The medical board’s information also shows Roy’s medical licence was suspended for 30 days in 2001, and he was put on probation for five years for “unprofessional conduct, non-therapeutic prescribing or treatment, and administering dangerous or controlled drugs in an improper manner.”
The Collège des Médecins du Québec, which licenses doctors in Quebec, said Roy was accredited from 1981 to 1995. In 1995, his licence was not renewed because he did not pay his fees. Leslie Labranche, a spokes- person for the agency, said it is possible Roy was practising in the U.S. for much of this time.
She said Roy faced no disciplinary issues in Quebec, and even the cancelling of his licence for not paying his dues is not considered a punitive measure.
Roy was arrested Tuesday at his Rockwall, Texas, home where authorities found bank statements from the Cayman Islands, a fake Texas driver’s licence, and passport photos of him with and without glasses and wearing different outfits. In one room was a book titled Hide You’re A$$ETS and Disappear.
Roy, who is being held in custody, now faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison and at least $18.5 million U.S. in fines and forfeitures.
“Dr. Roy engaged in a staggering and long-running fraud scheme,” prosecutors said as they asked he not be allowed bail. “He will flout any authority that tries to reign him in.”
Authorities allege Roy and his office manager, Teri Sivils, who also was charged, sent “recruiters” doorto-door, asking residents to sign forms that contained the doctor’s electronic signature and stated that his practice had seen them professionally in their own homes.