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

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations
    Indian peacekeepers serving in UN missions, participants from about 100 nationalities and top UN diplomats will join the second International Day of Yoga celebration next week with emphasis on how Yoga can help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh
    "The security of the (RK) Mission has been intensified as the priest filed a general diary with us," duty officer of the city's Wari police station told.

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT
    H-1B visa "abuse" is harming American workers, leading US daily New York Times said on Thursday and asked the US Congress to close the loopholes as some companies skirt rules for using foreign workers with such visas by outsourcing recruitments to firms like Tata and Infosys.

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT

    Kenya: Bomb Scare At Canadian High Commission Over Visas

    Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said Thursday the road to the Canadian diplomatic offices was sealed off as Kenyan bomb experts inspected the package.

    Kenya: Bomb Scare At Canadian High Commission Over Visas

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested
    Jo Cox, a member of the British parliament, died after being shot in northern England,  UK police have said.

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia
    A Cambodian court on Thursday sentenced an Indian man to 14 months in prison for sexually abusing an underage girl, an anti-pedophile agency said.

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia