Indian-American doc pays $1,850,000 for performing unnecessary tests, surgeries
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jan, 2023 01:38 PM
New York, Jan 11 (IANS) An Indian-American doctor has agreed to pay approximately $1,850,000 for allegedly billing the government for cataract surgeries and diagnostic tests that were not medically required.
Aarti D. Pandya and her Pandya Practice Group violated the False Claims Act by also performing and billing for tests that were incomplete or of worthless value, and office visits that did not provide the level of service claimed.
"Physicians who perform procedures and tests without a legitimate medical need place profits ahead of patients and subject those patients to unnecessary risk," said US Attorney Ryan K Buchanan in a statement released on Monday.
"This settlement represents our office's commitment to ensuring accountability for physicians who subject patients to unwarranted medical care and waste taxpayer funds," Buchanan said.
From January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2016, Pandya knowingly submitted false claims to federal healthcare programmes for medically unnecessary cataract extraction surgeries and YAG laser capsulotomies, according to a Justice Department release.
The prosecution alleged that Pandya performed these procedures on patients that did not qualify for the procedure under accepted standards of medical practice and, in some cases, caused injury to her patients.
Additionally, it accused Pandya of falsely diagnosing patients with glaucoma to justify unnecessary diagnostic testing and treatment that was billed to Medicare.
The prosecution also said that many of the diagnostic tests that Pandya ordered were not properly performed, were performed on a broken machine, or were not interpreted in the medical record, as required by Medicare.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) imposed in 2019 a payment suspension on the Pandya Practice Group that precluded it from receiving any reimbursement from Medicare for Part B claims.
As part of the settlement of the government's claims in this case, the Pandya Practice Group agreed to forfeit the suspension amount to the government.
The payment suspension will also be lifted as part of the settlement.
To protect federal healthcare programmes and beneficiaries going forward, Pandya and the Pandya Practice Group have entered into a detailed, multi-year Integrity Agreement and Conditional Exclusion Release (IA) with the Office of Inspector General.
"We must assure patients and taxpayers that healthcare is dictated by clinical needs, not fiscal greed," said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "This settlement should serve as a reminder that the FBI will not tolerate healthcare providers who engage in schemes that defraud the industry and put innocent patients at risk."
Singh, 59, a private hire driver working for ABC Cars, was pronounced dead in Nine Elms Lane, Wolverhampton, on October 30 after he was discovered with serious injuries. Tomasz Margol, 35, of Bamford Road was charged with Singh's murder, and produced before the Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.
The longest-serving Indian American in Congress, Bera was declared winner on Tuesday night even as the counting of votes was continuing in his California House district a week after the November 8 election. A doctor, Bera, 57, was first elected to Congress in 2012.
Under the new UK-India Young Professionals Scheme, the country will offer 3,000 places annually to 18-30 year-old degree educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work here for up to two years.
In an abbreviated version of his usual rally performance — he entered, on cue, to Lee Greenwood’s "God Bless the U.S.A.," his unofficial theme song — Trump made no mention of his presumptive rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The rise in Indian students moving to the US is likely to overtake China in 2022-23, with 82,000 visas issued between June and August - the highest number among all countries.
Trump had said at the start of polling on November 8 midterms he would make an important announcement on November 15. But the Republicans are thinking in terms of Ron DeSantis, the Florida hero, and former VP Mike Pence with his own plans for a run, embittered by Trump calling him a "wimp".
