Dr. Robert Claude McGrath and his son, Robert Christopher McGrath, were sentenced to 30 and 12 months in prison, respectively, on Monday.
A Cherry Hill doctor and his chiropractor son were sentenced to prison on Dec. 18 for conspiring to defraud Medicare by using unqualified people to give physical therapy to Medicare recipients.
Dr. Robert Claude McGrath 66, and his son Robert Christopher McGrath, 48, both of Cherry Hill, were sentenced to 30 and 12 months in prison, respectively. Both defendants previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to separate informations charging them each with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Kugler imposed both sentences in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court,
the McGraths owned and operated Atlantic Spine and Joint Institute, a medical practice with offices in Westmont and Wayne, Pa. Under Medicare rules, physical therapy had to be provided by Robert Claude McGrath or by a trained physical therapist under his supervision. However, from January 2011 through April 2016, the McGraths sought to defraud Medicare by employing unlicensed, untrained persons to give physical therapy to Medicare patients, at times when Robert Claude McGrath was not even in the office to supervise. They then submitted bills to Medicare fraudulently identifying Robert Claude McGrath as the provider of physical therapy.
In addition to the prison terms, Kugler sentenced both defendants to three years of supervised release and ordered them to pay restitution of $890,000.
In a related civil settlement that was announced at the time of their guilty pleas, the McGraths and Atlantic Spine agreed to pay $1.78 million plus interest to the federal government to resolve allegations that the fraudulent bills submitted under the McGraths’ scheme caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare in violation of the False Claims Act.
Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick credited agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster in Philadelphia, special agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert, and special agents from the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Mark S. McCormack, with the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. David Walk Jr. and Andrew A. Caffrey III of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit represented the government in the criminal case and the civil case, respectively.
