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Doctor, 2 Patients Guilty of Fraud

A federal judge has sentenced Gary Kushner, a 72-year-old Plantation physician, to 12 years in prison for Medicare fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. 

A jury last August found Kushner guilty after a two-month trial based on evidence that he and co-conspirators submitted $50 million in fraudulent billings through Biscayne Milieu, a Miami-based mental-health clinic. Kushner had been medical director of the clinic.

Another Justice Department release says a jury has found two Medicare beneficiaries guilty of soliciting kickbacks from a Miami home health agency in return for lending their Medicare numbers for fraudulent billing. The defendants, Rene Suarez-Basanta and Marta Gonzalez, both 67, were two of nine people who have been convicted following an investigation of Safe Home Health Care Inc., the agency said.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.