A settlement has been reached to resolve False Claims Act allegations against an Indian-American couple and two diagnostic companies.
The allegations arose by a lawsuit claiming Nita K. Patel and Kirtish N. Patel and two companies that they owned and operated, Biosound Medical Services Inc and Heart Solution PC, knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare for thousands of falsified diagnostic test reports and the underlying tests.
According to the government, the defendants created fraudulent diagnostic test reports, forged physician signatures on these reports, and then billed Medicare for the fraudulent reports and the underlying tests that were used solely to create these reports. Also allegedly, the defendants billed Medicare for neurological tests that they conducted without the required physician supervision.
More than half of the diagnostic reports generated by Biosound between October 2008 and June 2014 were never reviewed by a physician, according to reports.
Nita K. Patel and Kirtish N. Patel were paid over $4,386,133.75 by Medicare and private insurance companies for the fraudulent reports, which they used for personal expenses that included multiple residences and luxury vehicles.
The whistleblower, a former employee of Biosound, is entitled to 15 to 25 per cent of the fine amount.
