Bala Cynwyd Doctor Pleads Guilty In Health Care Fraud Case

BALA CYNWYD, PA — A doctor at a Bala Cynwyd addiction treatment center has pleaded guilty in a multi-million dollar health insurance fraud scheme.

Domenick Braccia, 57, of Perkasie, medical director at the addiction treatment center Liberation Way, was in charge of the organization's three facilities in Bala Cynwyd, Yardley, and Fort Washington.

Braccia billed insurance companies for a wide variety of work which he did not do, according to the US Attorney's Office. He also helped orchestrate what authorities termed an "elaborate kick-back scheme" where he ordered thousands of medically unneccessary urine tests which were sent to Florida laboratories for analysis.

Beyond just swindling insurance companies, federal officials said that patients who sought out treatment at Liberation Way were also shortchanged.

"Medical practices were shoddy and substantive treatment minimal," Michael T. Harpster, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division, said in a statement announcing the guilty plea.

All told, state and federal charges have been filed against 11 individuals and nine different businesses in connection with this case, following a year-and-a-half long grand jury investigation. Liberation Way, meanwhile, has shut down for good.

Braccia's sentencing hearing is forthcoming.

Story by Justin Heinze