Jury: Ex-Temple top doc a fraudster

A federal jury this afternoon convicted the former chairman of Temple University School of Medicine's ophthalmology department of 150 counts of health care and wire fraud and making false statements in health care matters.

Joseph J. Kubacki, 62, a pediatric eye specialist now living in Destin, Fla., was accused of falsely claiming between 2002 and 2007 to have provided more than $1.5 million in services to patients at a clinic run by the ophthalmology department.

Kubacki's bail was revoked and he was taken into custody shortly after the verdict. No sentencing date was set. He could potentially face more than seven years in prison.

Jud Aaron, Kubacki's attorney, was not immediately available for comment.

Authorities said Kubacki, who had an office at Temple University Hospital, made notations in charts of patients seen and evaluated by other doctors that indicated he had also seen and evaluated them when he had not.

On some occasions, Kubacki wasn't even in the area when the patients were seen.

The false statements allowed Temple to bill Medicare and other insurers for more than $1.5 million.

The indictment said Kubacki was a salaried employee while at Temple but his bonuses were tied to revenue he generated by seeing patients and that he had repeatedly sought to boost his compensation based on the financial performance of his department.

Kubacki left Temple in November 2007 after an internal investigation. Temple officials later turned over their findings to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Inspector General.