Two Texas-based pain management doctors were sentenced to six and a half years each for engaging in a massive healthcare fraud scheme according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. Drs. Desi Barroga, 51, and Deno Barroga, 51, faced conspiracy charges to commit healthcare fraud and agreed to plead guilty earlier this year in May.
As reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the twin brothers were involved in a fraudulent operation swindling insurance companies by claiming to administer corticosteroid injections which never occurred. In total, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and United Healthcare were billed at least $45 million by the Barrogas. At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr also held the two doctors jointly liable for $9,016,883.10 in restitution, with both men ordered to forfeit their medical licenses under their plea agreement.
During courtroom proceedings, it was uncovered that in a perverse effort to create a facade of legitimate treatment, the Barrogas would pretend to inject needles into the skin of patients. These actions not only resulted in financial loss for insurance providers but also perpetuated the cycle of addiction among patients relying on powerful Schedule II controlled substances such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine. As per the Justice Department's release, U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton said, "These doctors exploited drug users’ vulnerabilities, requiring them to submit to monthly visits in exchange for controlled substance prescriptions, then billing their insurance providers for services the patients did not need nor receive."
The fraudulent scheme also involved creating spurious medical records that were often cloned from one patient to another, with minimal variation. Following instructions from the Barrogas, patients were made to include false statements about the injections and other treatments in their records. In an odd display of deceit, the doctors crafted a scenario where they placed a needle in the patient's body without piercing the skin to mimic the administration of an injection.
A collective effort from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management’s Office of the Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division Diversion Group, and the Texas Department of Insurance led to the thorough investigation and the subsequent prosecution of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Renee Hunter and Dimitri Rocha played integral roles in prosecuting and assisting with the forfeiture of the case.
