SAN DIEGO – On June 4, 2018, the San Diego County District Attorney announced that neuropsychologist Michael Howard Kabat, 50, owner of Neuropsychology Consult Services, has been charged with 12 felony counts of health insurance fraud in connection with the fraudulent billing of insurance companies in excess of $2.2 million.
It’s alleged that Kabat’s psychological assistants routinely performed lengthy neuropsychological examinations, yet Kabat billed under a code indicating that he personally conducted the examinations. This billing code reimbursed services at a higher rate of pay and provided reimbursement for additional services related to the examinations. In total, Kabat received $551,000 from three insurance companies under fraudulent billing schemes spanning from late 2012 to early 2016.
Additionally, Kabat is charged with two counts of grand theft of labor since he did not pay his psychological assistants their hourly rate for services provided to Kabat, as required under California law. Kabat categorized his psychological assistants as independent contractors rather than employees, resulting in four tax evasion related charges. It is also alleged that Kabat filed documents with the California Board of Psychology, which he signed under penalty of perjury, containing false information, which are the basis of seven perjury charges against him.
Kabat and his biller, Leslie Hendrix, also known as Leslie Lowe, 33, are each charged with three counts of health insurance fraud and additional felony counts for creating false documents in support of a claim for health insurance benefits when they added billing hours for services not rendered.
The victim insurance companies were Blue Shield of California, Scripps Health Plan Services and The Medicare Trust Fund.
The investigation into Kabat’s billing was conducted over a two-year period, and involved the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Office of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the California Department of Consumer Affairs, the California Board of Psychology and the California Department of Insurance.
“It seems as though local, state and federal investigators are swamped with insurance fraud cases,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “It’s sinful that this is a $15 billion a year problem in California and ends up costing all of us as consumers.”
