CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - A Webster City doctor was sentenced Thursday to two months in prison for making false statements in Medicare claims.
Dr. Joseph Latella, 76, also agreed to pay more than $316,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors for Iowa said. Latella pleaded guilty in July to one count of making false statements relating to health care matters. Prosecutors say Latella operated a private practice in Webster City and served as the medical director for several nursing homes at the time of the offense.
Prosecutors have said Latella falsely declared he had spent more time with patients than he actually had at two nursing homes to qualify for more expensive billing to Medicare and Medicaid. In total, Latella admitted that over a four-year period starting in 2014, he submitted 1,140 false claims to be paid nearly $108,000 by Medicare and more than $9,200 by Medicaid.
He had faced up to five years in prison.
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