Physician Charged with $20.7M Health Care Fraud and Kickback Scheme
3/31/2024
In February 2024, a federal grand jury in New Jersey returned an indictment charging a medical doctor with engaging in a health care fraud and illegal kickback scheme involving the submission of $20.7 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for laboratory tests. According to the indictment, the physician allegedly received cash kickbacks from a laboratory representative and others in exchange for approving orders for laboratory tests billed to Medicare. As part of the scheme, the physician also allegedly participated in COVID-19 testing events at which he authorized COVID-19 tests as well as expensive and medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests that patients did not request, that were not used in the patient’s treatment, and for which the patients rarely received the results. The indictment also charges the physician with participating in an illegal referral scheme in which the physician solicited and received cash kickbacks and bribes from the owner of a medical equipment supply company in exchange for ordering orthotic braces that were not medically necessary.
Related Practices: Healthcare Law
Related Attorney: Riza I. Dagli, Paul J. DeMartino, Jr.
Related Industry: Healthcare
