Anesthesiologist Accused Of $7M Health-Care Fraud Conspiracy

VALATIE, NY — A Hudson Valley anesthesiologist was indicted for what authorities said was her role in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud conspiracy. Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Anna Steiner, 63, of Valatie, Columbia County, was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn Tuesday.

The indictment charged her with conspiracy to commit health care fraud for her role in a telemedicine scheme to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicare Part D plans and private insurance plans.

Steiner was previously arrested on a complaint in April.

"As alleged, Steiner claimed to provide telemedicine services to patients, but in reality, her telecare was a fiction and the claims submitted to Medicare unnecessary and fraudulent," Donoghue said.

"This office and our law enforcement partners will continue vigorously investigating and prosecuting health care professionals who seek personal enrichment by stealing from a taxpayer-funded program," he said.

As laid out in the indictment, telemedicine is a service connecting medical providers with individuals who receive healthcare benefits through real-time, interactive audio and video telecommunications.

Beginning in approximately January 2015, Steiner and other medical providers purported to practice telemedicine per agreements with an entity identified as "Company-1," and others, in exchange for kickbacks paid for each purported telemedicine encounter with a beneficiary.

Authorities said that, in fact, Steiner, who is also known as "Hanna Wasielewska," and other medical providers signed numerous prescriptions and order forms for durable medical equipment and drugs for beneficiaries, when the equipment and drugs were not medically necessary and not the result of an actual doctor-patient relationship or exam.

Suppliers of equipment and pharmacies then submitted to Medicare more than $7 million in claims on behalf of more than 3,000 beneficiaries, including residents of the Eastern District of New York.

Medicare paid more than $3 million on these claims, prosecutors said.

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