Clarkston podiatrist pleads guilty to health care fraud, charged $1 million for toenail trims [Detroit Free Press]

Nov. 22--Talk about an expensive pedicure.

A Clarkston podiatrist faces up to 10 years in federal prison for trimming toenails and then charging more than $1 million for the foot treatments.

Richard Alan Behnan, 55, a traveling podiatrist, pleaded guilty to health care fraud today, admitting he charged the government and an insurance company more than $1 million for nail surgeries, when he was mostly trimming toenails.

According to the U.S. Attorneys' office, Behnan trimmed toenails for seniors in Detroit, Lansing, Bay City and Flint, but then billed the service as a nail avulsion, which is a surgical procedure to treat ingrown toenails.

Behnan, along with his co-defendant Kelly Morel, then submitted phony bills to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which paid the pair $1.6 million for a decade's worth of foot care.

The government's investigation revealed that patients never received nail avulsion procedures from Behnan or Morel, as they claimed. Moreover, the two defendants billed Medicare for surgical procedures performed while Behnan traveled outside the U.S., authorities said.

Morel, 49, of Davison, pleaded guilty in May to health care fraud following four days of trial.

"Health care providers should be on notice that the federal government is scrutinizing billings and will prosecute fraud aggressively," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in announcing today's guilty plea. "The public deserves to have our health care dollars spent responsibly."

Behnan faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced Feb. 23.

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