VA DPM Gets 1 Year Jail, Surrenders License for
Phantom Surgery
Center
A Fredericksburg physician has been sentenced to
one year and one
day in federal prison for his role in a billing
scam. DR. MARC J.
BLATSTEIN, a podiatrist, will report to a
federal penitentiary in
Florida by March 14 to begin serving his term.
Judge Richard L.
Williams also ordered Blatstein to pay
restitution of $272,704, the
money he received in overpayments by health
insurance companies.
Yesterday's hearing ends a lengthy investigation
by federal and
state authorities into the phantom surgery
center that Blatstein
created at his podiatry office in the city's
Central Park commercial
development. Because of this center, Blatstein
was able to bill
insurance companies for his foot treatments as
well as the use of
his facility. In reality, the center was little
more than a phone
line, tax ID number, fake stationery and a
rented mail box.
Blatstein had not obtained a state license for a
free-standing
surgery center. He did his surgeries in a room
within his office.
Blatstein's attorney has stated in court that
Blatstein will
surrender his medical license to the state Board
of Medicine, though
that is not a condition of his sentence or plea.
Blatstein's
restitution schedule calls for him to pay $200
per month or 25
percent of his gross income, whichever is
greater. The payments are
to begin 30 days after his release from prison.
Source: Jim Hall, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(VA) [2/9/06]
