PHILADELPHIA - Muhamad Aly Rifai, 49, of Easton, has been charged with four counts of health care fraud in a scheme to improperly and fraudulently bill Medicare, according to U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

According to the indictment, Rifai was a licensed psychiatrist who was the sole owner of Blue Mountain Psychiatry, a practice with offices in Palmerton, Easton, and Stroudsburg.

The indictment says that for several years, Rifai routinely and improperly billed Medicare for services he did not provide to Medicare beneficiaries and nursing home patients, including billing for treating dead beneficiaries; billing for treating the same patient at the same time at different nursing homes; and billing for providing more than 24 hours’ worth of services to patients on a single day.

The indictment also accuses Rifai of routinely billing for higher levels of care than he or his staff provided to nursing home patients.

According to the indictment, despite not having actually seen a patient, Rifai added a preprinted stamp to medical progress notes to support billing for psychological and add-on services which were not provided by his staff.

From January 2015 until October of this year, Rifai, through Blue Mountain, obtained Medicare payments of at least $1.36 million based on fraudulent claims.

The defendant made an initial appearance in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Lloret.

If the anyone has any information regarding Blue Mountain Psychiatry or any other health care fraud allegation, they should contact 800-HHS-TIPS.

If convicted, Rifai faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and a fine of up to $1 million.

The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan E. Burnes.