West Hartford Eye Doctor Pleads Guilty To Fraud: Feds

BOSTON, MASS. — A doctor who lives in Avon and practices in West Hartford pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Boston to receiving kickbacks in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans, federal authorities said.

Dr. Donald Salzberg, 67, of Avon, pleaded guilty before U.S. Senior District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to receive kickbacks.

A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Salzberg was charged May 23.

Salzberg, a licensed medical doctor in Connecticut for 36 years, owned and operated Donald J. Salzberg, M.D., an ophthalmology practice in West Hartford, Conn.

From 2014 through 2019, Salzberg conspired with a principal for a medical diagnostics company that performed transcranial doppler (TCD) scans – brain scans that measure blood flow in parts of the brain – to order hundreds of medically unnecessary TCD scans in exchange for kickbacks, federal authorities said.

Salzberg and his co-conspirator used false patient diagnoses to order the unnecessary brain scans, for which the co-conspirator would submit claims to Medicare and other insurance companies on behalf of the medical diagnostic company for payment, federal authorities said.

In exchange, Salzberg was paid cash kickbacks of $100 to $125 per test that he ordered, as well as sham administrative services fees, federal authorities said.

The scheme resulted in fraudulent bills of over $3 million to Medicare and private insurance companies, federal authorities said.

The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

The charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

For the full U.S. Department of Justice announcement, click on this link.