Cardiologist forfeits more than $1 million fleeced from Medicare, Medicaid
McALLEN — A former McAllen cardiologist pleaded guilty Friday to one federal count of Medicaid fraud and agreed to reimburse the government more than $1.1 million.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Dr. Fabian Aurignac, 46, admitted to employing unlicensed foreign doctors, billing for evaluations that never took place and conducting dozens of unnecessary medical procedures over a period of five years.
Investigators believe Aurignac - who previously ran McAllen's Cardiology Care Center on the 700 block of North Ware Road - hired several South American doctors who were not authorized to practice in the United States and told the men he would not pay them unless they examined at least 15 patients a day.
He gave them pre-signed prescriptions to hand out while he vacationed in Argentina in 2003 and later billed Medicare and Medicaid claiming he had conducted all of the patient visits, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Ferko said.
Working with hidden video cameras, the FBI managed to record sessions with Aurignac's assistants who told visiting patients the doctor was not in the country at the time.
Rules governing the federally funded health care programs require the billing doctor to be on hand for all sessions that are charged to the government.
Aurignac's plea comes more than a year after the Texas Medical Board suspended his license to practice based on similar claims. But even after, the embattled doctor continued to peddle medical services out of an RV parked at flea markets and adult day cares, according to court documents.
There, he offered Wal-Mart gift certificates to anyone who agreed to undergo unnecessary procedures. At least one patient treated in the RV later told authorities that Aurignac never even examined her.
Aurignac's makeshift clinic also allegedly bribed daycare managers for access to their residents, according to a superseding indictment unsealed this week. Two co-defendants have been charged in the case, but their names remain under seal.
The doctor said little Friday during his re-arraignment hearing before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane. Dressed in a pressed blue shirt and khaki pants, he agreed to give up the $1,157,000 federal prosecutors seized from two of his bank accounts in February 2008, thousands of dollars taken from his office safe and a 1995 GMC truck.
His attorney, Fela B. Olivarez, did not return calls for comment after the hearing.
Aurignac, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Argentina, faces up to 10 years in prison. He will remain in federal custody pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for July 27.
Medicare is a federally funded program offering healthcare assistance for individuals who are 65 and older and for the disabled. Medicaid is a federal-state program that helps pay for health care for the needy, aged, blind and disabled and for low-income families with children.
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
