ALBANY, NEW YORK - Steven A. St. Lucia has agreed to pay $42,000 to the United States to resolve allegations that he caused Union Foot Solutions, LLC, d/b/a Union Orthotics and Pedorthics (Union Foot Solutions), to submit false claims for payment to Medicare in violation of the False Claims Act, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman. St. Lucia has pled guilty to state health care fraud charges and is scheduled for sentencing on March 17, 2023.
As part of the Settlement Agreement, St. Lucia admitted to the following:
In early 2000, the New York State Board of Professional Medical Conduct revoked St. Lucia’s medical license based on findings that he had committed conduct demonstrating moral unfitness and gross incompetence. Later that year, the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG) excluded St. Lucia from participating in all Federal health care programs, including Medicare. The effect of an exclusion is that no Federal health care program may make payment for items or services furnished by an excluded person, or at the medical direction or on the prescription of an excluded person.
St. Lucia subsequently opened Schenectady-based Union Foot Solutions, a medical supply company, and applied to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Union Foot Solutions to participate in Medicare. That enrollment application falsely represented both that St. Lucia had never had a revocation or suspension of a license to provide health care and that he had never faced suspension or exclusion from Federal health care programs. CMS denied the application, explaining that St. Lucia was “excluded from the Medicare program" and, therefore, Union Foot Solutions “cannot receive Medicare payment." St. Lucia later transferred his ownership interest in Union Foot Solutions to a third party, and Union Foot Solutions’ new owner reapplied for and obtained authorization to participate in Medicare. St. Lucia continued to work for Union Foot Solutions and rendered orthotic and prosthetic care to patients.
The United States alleges that, from Dec. 1, 2016 through Feb. 28, 2018, St. Lucia caused Union Foot Solutions to present false claims for payment to Medicare for services that he furnished to and ordered for Medicare beneficiaries. The United States further alleges that, to conceal his involvement in the treatment of Medicare beneficiaries and to circumvent the effect of his exclusion, St. Lucia caused Union Foot Solutions to bill services that he furnished to and items that he ordered for Medicare beneficiaries in the name of another pedorthist.
The investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, HHS-OIG, and the New York State Offices of the Inspector General. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Katz.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys