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

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai
    Dubai's police chief, Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, said the victim "used to carry an Iranian passport and then had a Turkish one."

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State
    The family, which included two children, had defied an order from the IS in the Riyadh district, forbidding residents to leave the area, said Syrian website 

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State

    Emirates Group announces record profits

    Emirates Group announces record profits
    During the 2015-16 financial year, both Emirates and dnata achieved new capacity and profit milestones, as the Group continued to expand its global footprint, and strengthen its business through strategic investments. 

    Emirates Group announces record profits

    A Donald Trump Truce? He's A Guest On Megyn Kelly's Fox TV Special

    A Donald Trump Truce? He's A Guest On Megyn Kelly's Fox TV Special
    When Megyn Kelly sits down with Donald Trump for her prime-time special on the Fox broadcasting network, the Fox News Channel host hopes to call a truce to the war waged by the presumptive Republican nominee

    A Donald Trump Truce? He's A Guest On Megyn Kelly's Fox TV Special

    Retired Pakistani Army Officers Were Involved In 26/11: Husain Haqqani

    Retired Pakistani Army Officers Were Involved In 26/11: Husain Haqqani
    The publisher, Juggernaut Books, says there is a specific reference to the Pakistani Army in the book, a no-holds-barred analysis of the India-Pakistan relationship by Haqqani, adviser to four Pakistani prime ministers, including Benazir Bhutto.

    Retired Pakistani Army Officers Were Involved In 26/11: Husain Haqqani

    Donald Trump Foes Plan To Push Conservative Views At GOP Convention

    Donald Trump Foes Plan To Push Conservative Views At GOP Convention
    With Trump's last two rivals —Texas' Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — abandoning their campaigns, there's no remaining talk of snatching the presidential nomination away from Trump with a contested, multiballot convention battle.

    Donald Trump Foes Plan To Push Conservative Views At GOP Convention