The Miami Herald
PSYCHIATRIST CHARGED IN MEDICAID FRAUD
By Herald Staff
August 3, 1984

A Miami psychiatrist has been charged with fraudulently collecting more than $124,000 in Medicaid payments in 1982 and 1983.

Dr. Francisco Bolea, who operated the Institute of Mental Health at 2601 NE Second Ave., was arrested Wednesday by investigators from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Florida Auditor General’s Office, said Jack Nulty, special agent in charge.

Bolea, 36, of 13343 SW 103rd Pl., was charged with racketeering, grand theft, 10 counts of filing false Medicaid claims and 10 counts of wrongfully receiving Medicaid payments.

Olga Iris Natal, 36, a partner in the mental health clinic, also was charged with racketeering, grand theft and Medicaid fraud, according to an affidavit filed in Circuit Court.

Bolea, a former employee in the Jackson Memorial Hospital department of psychiatry, was approved to receive Medicaid payments in 1980, according to the arrest affidavit.

In 1982, Bolea, Natal and Gamaliel Rivera formed a partnership called the Institute of Mental Health.

Using a computer study in 1983, Florida’s Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services targeted Bolea for investigation because his Medicaid bills showed “a possibility of excessive office visits during the entire year of 1982,” according to the affidavit, filed by Medicaid Fraud Unit investigator Robert O’Neill.

The study showed that Bolea had billed the state for Medicaid payments for 18, 19 and as many as 25 one-hour patient visits a day in 1982.

The bills stated that Bolea personally treated each patient.

In October 1983, state investigators watched Bolea’s office. The investigators learned that Bolea was at the office only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, although he submitted Medicaid bills for treatments five days a week, the affidavit states.

Rivera told the state investigators that he, Natal and other employees at the clinic provided psychological services for clients and billed for Medicaid payments in Bolea’s name, a violation of state Medicaid regulations, the affidavit states.

Ana Quintero, an employee at the clinic, told the investigators that Bolea consulted with patients for about 45 minutes on first visits and 10 to 15 minutes on follow-up visits for those who required medication, although Bolea billed Medicaid only for hour-long visits.