Close X
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
ADVT 
International

Indian-American Couple Ordered To Pay $7.75 Million For Healthcare Fraud

Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Jul, 2016 01:13 PM
    An Indian-American couple, who owned a mobile diagnostic testing company in New Jersey, has been ordered by a US court to pay USD 7.75 million for committing a multi-million health care fraud.
     
    Kirtish N Patel and Nita K Patel, both aged 53, had earlier pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud.
     
    The government's civil complaint had alleged that they created fraudulent diagnostic test reports, forged physician signatures on these reports and then billed Medicare for the fraudulent reports.
     
    They also billed Medicare for neurological tests that they conducted without the required physician supervision, the Justice Department said.
     
    The lawsuit was filed under whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens with knowledge of fraud to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.
     
    The False Claims Act also permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in this case. The whistleblower who brought the misconduct to the government's attention will receive 15 to 25 per cent of the more than USD 7.7 million recovered by the government.
     
    According to the documents filed in the case and statements made in the court from 2006 through June 2014, Nita and Kirtish owned and operated Biosound Medical Services Inc and Heart Solutions in New Jersey, which were mobile diagnostic companies and approved medicare providers.
     
    As per court documents, Biosound technicians would travel to the office of a primary care physician in the New York and New Jersey area to conduct diagnostic testing. Biosound was responsible for sending the tests to a reading physician, an appropriate specialist who would interpret the results.
     
     
    "After the reading physician prepared a report, Biosound was responsible for providing it to the referring physician. Biosound was paid millions of dollars by Medicare and other payers for the diagnostic testing, the reading physician's interpretation of the results and the reports, the prosecutors said.
     
    Kirtish admitted to fraudulently interpreting and writing diagnostic reports produced by Biosound despite having no medical license and knowing that the reports would be used by the referring physicians to make important patient treatment decisions.
     
    Nita assisted her husband in forging physician signatures on the fraudulently produced reports to make them appear legitimate.
     
    The couple admitted falsely representing to Medicare that the neurological testing performed by Biosound was being supervised by a licensed neurologist, the Justice Department said.
     
    According to reports, more than half of the diagnostic reports generated by Biosound between October 2008 and June 2014 were never actually reviewed or interpreted by a physician.
     
    Nita and Kirtish were paid more than USD 4,386,133.75 by Medicare and private insurance companies for the fraudulent reports, which they used for personal expenses, including multiple residences and luxury vehicles, it said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Social Media Monarch: Queen Elizabeth Tweets Birthday Thanks

    Social Media Monarch: Queen Elizabeth Tweets Birthday Thanks
    LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II has sent a tweet for only the second time, to thank people who offered her 90th birthday wishes on social media.

    Social Media Monarch: Queen Elizabeth Tweets Birthday Thanks

    Lagging In Fundraising, Donald Trump Calls On Gop For More Support

    WASHINGTON — Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that he is struggling to rally fellow Republicans as new fundraising reports show him badly lagging Hillary Clinton in campaign cash.

    Lagging In Fundraising, Donald Trump Calls On Gop For More Support

    Authorities: Man At Vegas Rally Said He Wanted To Kill Trump

    A complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges Michael Steven Sandford with an act of violence on restricted grounds.

    Authorities: Man At Vegas Rally Said He Wanted To Kill Trump

    Pakistan Woman Paraded With Blackened Face, Shaved Head For Eloping

    Pakistan Woman Paraded With Blackened Face, Shaved Head For Eloping
    A 23-year-old woman was paraded in her village streets with blackened face and shaved off head by her family members for allegedly eloping with a man, the latest in a series of 'honour' related crimes in Pakistan's Punjab province.

    Pakistan Woman Paraded With Blackened Face, Shaved Head For Eloping

    World Gets Ready To Observe Second Yoga Day

    World Gets Ready To Observe Second Yoga Day
    The world is ready to observe the second International Day of Yoga (IDY) on Tuesday as Indian missions abroad held many practice sessions to prepare thousands of people for the day.

    World Gets Ready To Observe Second Yoga Day

    Justin Trudeau Condemns Killing Of 14 Canadian Embassy Security Guards In Kabul

      The Canadian Embassy in Kabul confirmed Monday that the guards were on their way there when the bombing happened, but said there had been no attack on its embassy premises.

    Justin Trudeau Condemns Killing Of 14 Canadian Embassy Security Guards In Kabul