By Mary Ann Roser
American-Statesman Staff
After a seven-day trial, a Houston jury convicted Dr. Dennis B. Barson Jr., 44, of Austin, and his clinic administrator, Dario Juarez, 54, of Beeville, of conspiracy and health care fraud after they billed Medicare $2.1 million over a two-month period, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced Wednesday evening.
Co-defendant Edgar Shakbazyan, whose address and age were not provided, pleaded guilty Oct. 24 and was convicted of conspiracy to pay kickbacks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Prosecutors said the fraudulent billing was for tests for urinary, bowel and sexual dysfunction that were never performed. The Houston FBI and the Texas Attorney General’s Office were among the agencies that worked on the case.
Barson and Juarez were convicted of 19 counts of health care fraud for filing false claims with Medicare for the procedures. The counts involved billings for 429 patients in just two months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. In a single day, on July 13, 2009, they billed for 156 patients, prosecutors said.
The fraud occurred at a medical clinic at 8470 Gulf Freeway in Houston, officials said. Barson was the only doctor practicing there, they said, adding that “it was Juarez, however, who allegedly represented himself either to be a doctor or a physician’s assistant and was the one who actually saw patients.”
The Texas Medical Board disciplined Barson in 2011, accusing him of providing false information about a court-ordered drug test for a friend.
Each fraud count, as well as the conspiracy charge, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in a federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Barson and Juarez will be sentenced Jan. 30; Shakbazyan on Feb. 20, officials said.