Indiana – A doctor from northwest Indiana who used to run a specialized clinic will serve more than eight years in federal prison after confessing to a large healthcare fraud operation that cost insurers and patients millions of dollars.
Bethany A. Cataldi, 54, was given a 97-month prison sentence by U.S. District Court Judge Gretchen S. Lund. U.S. Attorney Adam L. Mildred said that the punishment comes after she pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud. Cataldi has to serve one year of supervised release and pay back $19,138,245.43 in restitution, in addition to his prison time.
Federal officials alleged that Cataldi, an osteopathic doctor and the sole owner of the Center for Otolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery in Highland, repeatedly charged Medicare and private insurance companies for balloon sinuplasty treatments that were never done. The goal of balloon sinuplasty is to ease chronic sinusitis by putting a tiny balloon catheter into blocked sinus passages to open them up and drain them…