News

2011 Top Story No. 9: Local doctor charged in Medicare scheme

Update: All charges against Dr. Jesse Stoff have been dismissed, according to records a
representative of Dr. Stoff shared with the News-Review. The charges were dismissed pursuant
to rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, according to an order from the
Eastern District Court of New York. The date of disposition was Dec. 13, 2012.

Medicare Fraud
TIMES/REVIEW GRAPHIC | Riverhead doctor Jesse Stoff was arrested Sept. 7 in connection with a Medicare fraud scandal at his former practice in Queens.

Dr. Jesse Stoff has maintained a high profile in the media while practicing at East End Wellness Center, an alternative medicine facility in Riverhead where he serves as medical director.

News 12 Long Island made him the subject of a half-hour special on his unique treatment of allergies. In July, Hamptons.com mentioned his appearance at an East Hampton fundraiser for the Stem Cell Research Foundation. He has even maintained a medical advice blog for the local news website Patch.com over the past several months.

But one thing about Dr. Stoff has managed to remain under the radar all this time: his past.

That was the lead of the special report in the Sept. 22 issue of The Suffolk Times, published days after federal agents charged a Riverhead doctor with medicare fraud for an alleged scam run at a practice he previously ran in Queens.

Federal prosecutors alleged Dr. Stoff gave kickbacks on payments received through Medicare to patients he treated for “medically unnecessary” services. He then made cash payments from January 2009 to April 2010 to two patients for referring other Medicare beneficiaries to the practice, according to the charges.

The day the story was published, thousands of copies of the News-Review and The Suffolk Times were purchased in bulk by a group of people claiming to be working on a school project or needing the papers to help move.

Times/Review Newsgroup had to order the unprecedented task of printing up more copies to keep up with the demand.

The great paper caper was chronicled in a September issue of The New York Times.

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