Indian American doctors arrested in illegal referral scheme

NEW JERSEY: The owner of a diagnostic facility and six doctors of Indian origin are among the 14 New Jersey healthcare providers who have been arrested and charged in a cash-for tests referral scheme for allegedly taking illegal kickback payments to refer patients.
The arrests were announced Dec 13, by New Jersey US Attorney Paul J. Fishman and US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Special Agent in Charge Tom O’Donnell.
On the morning of Dec 13, more than 65 federal and local agents and officers led by HHS-OIG arrested the 14 health care practitioners, to whom radiology and diagnostic facility Orange Community MRI (OCM) allegedly paid monthly cash kickback payments in exchange for their referral of Medicare and Medicaid patients to OCM for testing services.
OCM’s executive director, Chirag Patel, 36, of Warren, NJ, was arrested on Dec 8, in connection with the scheme. He appeared that day before Judge Arleo and was released on a $750,000 bond.
According to the complaints filed in the related cases, OCM began making the illegal kickback payments as early as 2010. At the end of each calendar month, individuals at OCM printed patient reports that detailed how many diagnostic tests – including MRIs, ultrasounds, echocardiograms, CAT Scans, and dual-emission X-ray absorptiometries – were referred by each of the accused doctors. These patient reports were used to calculate the payment owed to each defendant.
According to each defendant’s agreement with OCM, the health care practitioners were paid kickbacks for each Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary diagnostic test referred to OCM. The defendants also were paid for referring some privately insured tests.
During only a two-month period between early October and early December, there were 32 separate payments made to or by the 15 defendants currently charged in connection with the alleged scheme, with total cash kickbacks of $51,500.
“Selling test referrals for cash is illegal. Patients have every right to expect their doctors will recommend medical service providers because they do the best job, not because they provide the best bribes,” said US Attorney Fishman. “There is no room in the federal healthcare system for those who see a person in need of care as an opportunity to make an extra buck on the side.”
“When physicians take kickbacks that influence how they practice medicine, it has the potential to taint the medical advice and care that is provided to their patients. The audacity of these physicians should offend honest taxpayers, especially at a time when our taxpayer resources are stretched thin. We will continue to aggressively pursue all angles of Healthcare fraud. We would also like to thank the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for their law enforcement support as this case was an offshoot of a CMS referral,” said Special Agent in Charge O’Donnell.
All of the health care providers charged practice in New Jersey and have offices in Newark, Orange, East Orange, West Orange or Irvington. The bribe amounts ranged from $200 to more than $5,000 per month. Other than Chirag Patel and Jose Castaneda, who is a nurse practitioner, all of the defendants are medical doctors. The other Indian origin physicians caught in this net are Shashi Agarwal, 59, of Edison; Ramesh Kania, 58, and Yash Khanna, 69, both of East Orange; Dinesh Patel, 57, and Padma Siripurapu, 44, both of Newark.
Each of the health care practitioners is charged with one count of violating the federal health care program anti-kickback statute by soliciting and receiving bribes, which carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Chirag Patel is charged with violating the same statute by offering and paying bribes, which carries the same maximum potential penalty.
India Post News Service

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