Area doctor acquitted of 20 federal charges

By Robert Patrick•rpatrick@post-dispatch.com>314-621-5154 |Posted: Tuesday, August 3, 2010

St. Louis • A local ear, nose and throat doctor has been acquitted of 20 health care fraud-related charges, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Dr. Wallace P. Berkowitz 67, of St. Louis, had been indicted Jan. 7 on one count of health care fraud and 19 counts of making false statements.

Prosecutors claimed that from 2003-2008, Berkowitz billed for procedures that had not been performed and inflated the amount of time he spent with patients.

But after a two week trial, a federal jury on Monday afternoon returned not guilty verdicts on all counts, lawyer Steve Welby said Tuesday.

Welby said that in response to the claims of over-billing  “ We presented all these documents showing that he did exactly what he said he did.” The amount of time Berkowitz spent with patients didn’t  matter, Welby said. What did was that Berkowitz was acting in good faith and provided the appropriate level of care, he said.

Welby said that the government’s own witness said, “ If he does the exam, he can bill for the time.”

Berkowitz started practicing medicine as a combat surgeon during the Vietnam war.

“ He had to learn how to be fast. He had to learn how to be efficient and get the job done. Just because he can do it faster doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get paid the same as other doctors,” Welby said.

After the trial, Welby said that one juror approached and “said that he didn’t have the authority to do this, but apologized for what they were trying to do to Dr. Berkowitz.”

Asked about the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry read a brief statement, which said that prosecutors were disappointed with the verdict, adding that they believed that there was sufficient evidence to convict Berkowitz.

“We continue to believe that Dr. Berkowitz should not be able to unilaterally decide what he bills to Medicare and Medicaid. We will continue to invest other avenues to prevent Dr. Berkowitz from receiving taxpayers’ money for services not provided in accord with Medicare and Medicaid policy.”

Berkowitz , a sole practitioner with offices in St. Louis and St. Louis, Madison and St. Clair counties, is still battling with Medicare and Medicaid over $125,000 that he is owed, Welby said.