Bucks dentist charged in $1.5M Medicaid fraud

Ilya Babiner, a Bucks County dentist with offices in Feasterville and Philadelphia, faces felony charges for allegedly submitting $1.5 million in fraudulent bills to Medicaid, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said Wednesday.

Over a period of at least two years, Babiner, 63, of Langhorne, submitted claims for crown restorations and repeated dental services for a high percentage of patients, setting off alarms in the state's Fraud Abuse Detection System, the attorney general's office said. Babiner allegedly used an alphabetical billing system to bill for work that he did not perform.

Between August 17 and 24, 2015, for example, Babiner claimed that his practice treated 120 patients, 107 of whom had a last name beginning with "G," the prosecutors said.

"When people commit Medicaid fraud, they're stealing tax dollars from people who are in real need of these services," Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a news release. "These charges are part of a renewed focus by my office on this kind of criminal activity."

Babiner's alleged fraud stopped in May 2016, when his records were subpoenaed. His attorney, Mark Sheppard, of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP, declined to comment.