Los Angeles psychologist Mark Berman convicted on felony fraud charge, loses license

October 26, 2011

On September 26, 2011, psychologist Mark Berman surrendered his license to the California Board of Psychology.

According to the Accusation issued by the Board in July 2011, Berman was convicted on October 15, 2010 in Los Angeles Superior Court (case no. MA049821) of knowingly submitting a fraudulent claim to the Medi-Cal program (a felony).

He was sentenced to pay restitution of $152,058.00 and was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay a fine.

Berman was an approved Medi-Cal provider of psychological services through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health whose patients were referred to him by the court. In 2008, he came under investigation by Department of Mental Health and the State of California Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, after it was noted that he submitted by far the largest dollar amount of claims for psychological services in all of Los Angeles County for 2004 through 2007.

The investigation, which included patient interviews, revealed that Berman submitting claims for reimbursement to Medi-Cal for treatment that did not take place; that he billed for family therapy (which has a higher reimbursement rate than individual therapy) when he was in fact providing individual therapy and billed for counseling time in excess of the time actually spent with patients, among other violations.

In addition to suspension, he is required to reimburse the Board its costs of investigation and enforcement of $4765.

Source: Stipulated Surrender of License and Order in the Matter of the Accusation Against Mark Berman, Ph.D., Psychologist License No. PSY 9698, Case 1F-2011-213779, Before the Board of Psychology, Department of Consumer Affairs, State of California.