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India Today
a day ago
- Health
- India Today
Indian-origin US doctor fined $2M for false surgery billing fraud
A 63-year-old Indian-origin pain medicine doctor based in Houston, Texas, has agreed to pay more than $2 million (approximately Rs 17.4 crore) to settle allegations of healthcare fraud, according to the US Ajay Aggarwal agreed to pay $2,053,515 to resolve claims that he submitted false billing to Medicare and to the Department of Labor's Workers' Compensation Programs between November 2021 and March 2023, for surgical procedures that were never actually is an anesthesiologist and pain medicine doctor who also practices in Texas' Bellaire city, Lake Jackson city and Van Vleck (in Matagorda County). He runs his medical practice, called The Pain Relief & Wellness Center, through his own business and a company named PRWCSWTX LLC, according to the statement issued on Monday (August 11) by the US Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas. Aggarwal billed federally funded healthcare programmes for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes, according to the statement. These are invasive procedures usually requiring use of an operating room. As a result, Medicare and other federally funded healthcare programmes pay thousands of dollars per procedure, the statement neither Aggarwal nor his staff performed these surgical procedures, according to the allegations, the statement further investigators said Aggarwal instead used electro-acupuncture devices on his patients, which involved inserting thin wires into the ear and taping a small neurostimulator behind the ear – none of which required surgery or treatments were done at Aggarwal's clinic, not a hospital or surgical centre, and no incision was made on a patient, according to the VOWS TO RECOVER LOSSES FROM FRAUDULENT MEDICARE BILLINGUS attorney Nicholas J Ganjei slammed the "fraudulent billing" by the doctor and vowed to recover the losses."A doctor who uses simple medical devices on his patients, yet bills Medicare for a sophisticated spinal surgery, is bilking the American taxpayer, plain and simple," said Ganjei."The Southern District of Texas will ensure that losses to federally funded healthcare programs from fraudulent billing, like what happened here, are recouped and that wrongdoers are held accountable," the attorney month, a doctor of Indian-origin admitted guilt to federal charges related to illegally prescribing strong opioids, resulting in the overdose deaths of two part of his plea, Sanjay Mehta admitted to writing unjustified prescriptions for oxycodone, methadone, and Roxicodone (a branded form of oxycodone hydrochloride) to three different patients in Virginia."Two of the three customers died of opioid intoxication within days of receiving their unlawful prescriptions," US Attorney's Office said in a quantum of Mehta's punishment will be announced on October 31.- Ends
Time of India
2 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Surgeries he never performed: Indian-origin Houston doctor agrees to pay over $2 million to settle medical fraud allegations
An Indian-origin doctor in Houston agreed to pay $2 million to settle medical fraud allegations against him. Dr Ajay Aggarwal, an Indian-origin pain medicine doctor from Houston, has agreed to pay over $2 million to resolve allegations of medical fraud against him, the US Justice Department revealed. Between 2021 and 2023, the 63-year-old doctor billed federally funded health care programs like Medicare and the Department of Labor's Workers' Compensation Programs for surgical implants that he never performed. Dr Aggarwal received thousands of dollars per procedure, but patients received simple devices which required no surgery. And all device placements used to take place at Aggarwal's clinic, not a hospital or surgical center. 'A doctor who uses simple medical devices on his patients, yet bills Medicare for a sophisticated spinal surgery, is billing the American taxpayer, plain and simple,' said US Attorney Nicholas J Ganjei.. 'The Southern District of Texas will ensure that losses to federally funded healthcare programs from fraudulent billing, like what happened here, are recouped and that wrongdoers are held accountable.' A 2023 document of the DOJ revealed that earlier he was accused of giving unnecessary treatment to federal employees with federal workers' compensation benefits and his pharmacy Medley, which was officially owned by his wife, filed the prescriptions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Brilliant Uses For Baking Soda That Really Surprised Us Read More Undo An employee of Medley acted as a whistleblower and said that during his term of employment, he saw patients being sent unnecessary with unnecessary medications being prescribed. In some cases, the patients did not even see or meet Dr Aggarwal. And Medley employees were allegedly instructed to auto-fill medications on a monthly basis and to use pre-printed prescription pads to submit the prescriptions to DOL-OWCP without consideration of medical need. The new fraud of Dr Aggarwal came to be reported at a time when foreign doctors are under fire, while several Republican leaders said US needs more doctors and foreign doctors can fill the gap.
