Indian-American couple jailed for medical fraud in US

From Lalit K Jha Washington, Aug 17 (PTI) An Indian-American couple hasbeen sentenced up to eight years in the US for receiving morethan USD 4.8 million from Medicare and private insurancecompanies for knowingly producing thousands of fraudulentmedical test reports. Kirtish N Patel, 54, and Nita K Patel, 53, from NewJersey pleaded guilty in November to health care fraud relatedto their Biosound Medical Services and Heart Solution PC. Federal prosecutors say Nita Patel received a six-and-ahalf years sentence yesterday, while Kirtish Patel wassentenced to more than eight years. They must pay more thanUSD 4.8 million in restitution. According to court papers, Kirtish Patel admitted to,from October 2008 through June 2014, fraudulently interpretingand writing diagnostic reports produced by Biosound despitehaving no medical license and knowing that the reports wouldbe used by the referring physicians to make important patienttreatment decisions. Nita Patel admitted assisting her husband in forgingphysician signatures on the fraudulently produced reports tomake them appear legitimate. Kirtish and Nita Patel also admitted falsely representingto Medicare that the neurological testing performed byBiosound was being supervised by a licensed neurologist. Federal prosecutors alleged that more than 10,000diagnostic reports generated by Biosound between October 2008and June 2014 were never actually reviewed or interpreted by aphysician. The couple were paid more than USD 4.8 million byMedicare and private insurance companies for the fraudulentreports, which they used for personal expenses, includingmultiple residences and luxury vehicles. The judge also ordered Kirtish and Nita Patel to servethree years of supervised release. PTI LKJ KJ NSAKJ