A Salt Lake doctor has been placed on probation after pleading guilty to having filed more than 900 false claims between 1992 and 1994.
Court records indicate Danny C. Purser, M.D., pleaded guilty on Jan. 19 to communications fraud and false claims for medical benefits, third-degree felonies. Third District Judge Roger Livingston sentenced Purser on Friday to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine but suspended that sentence in lieu of three years of probation and 80 hours of community service to be completed by July 19.The judge also ordered Purser to pay $56,000 in restitution.
"The pleading resolves a major health care fraud case involving Medicaid, Medicare and other private insurers and individuals," said Assistant Attorney General J. Dennis Kroll in a prepared statement.
Investigators reviewed more than 30,000 pages of records for Purser's patients in 10 nursing homes and recipients of Medicaid, Medicare and other benefits from 79 private insurance companies, Kroll said. More than 900 false claims were filed between January 1992 and August 1994.
In some cases, claims were filed for deceased people or for patients who had been transferred to other facilities or treated by other doctors, Kroll said. Other claims were filed for patients who had not been treated, for patients who were supposed to have been treated while the doctor was out of town, or for services billed at a higher cost than what was provided.
In some cases, bills were filed for services totaling more than 40 hours per day, Kroll said.
Purser's Medicaid bills, at 25,000, exceeded by four times the next highest doctor in the state, who filed 6,000 in the same period.