Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) today announced that a Bergen County cardiologist has been indicted for allegedly double-billing insurance companies for medical services he provided through two or more of the three health-care entities he owned in Paramus.
Dr. Roger Coletti, 69, of Wyckoff, was charged by a state grand jury with nine counts of health care claims fraud (second degree) for allegedly filing fraudulent bills to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and UnitedHealthcare Inc. over an eight-month period beginning December 2010. He is also charged with one count each of second-degree insurance fraud and second-degree attempted theft by deception for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims to those companies and Aetna Insurance Company between April 2006 and October 2011.
According to the indictment, Coletti filed multiple claims for the same service to the same person under the different tax identification numbers assigned to three facilities he owned and operated on Sears Drive: North American Diagnostics, Interventional Cardiovascular Associates, and Bergen Medical Images. The total amount of the alleged double-billing exceeded $600,000. The case was referred to the Office of The Insurance Fraud Prosecutor by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000.
People who are concerned about insurance cheating and have information about a fraud can report it anonymously by calling the toll‑free hotline at 1‑877‑55‑FRAUD, or visiting the Web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org. State regulations permit a reward to be paid to an eligible person who provides information that leads to an arrest, prosecution and conviction for insurance fraud.