Doctor agrees to settle fraud claims
By HME News Staff
Updated 8:58 AM CDT, Mon September 16, 2024
WILMINGTON, Del. – Dr. Vishal Patel, a Wilmington, Del., physician, has agreed to pay more than $1 million to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by ordering medically unnecessary DME for patients covered by Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Delaware, Patel allegedly referred patients for more than 1750 orthotic devices, including wrist, shoulder, knee, ankle, and back braces, even though he had no medical relationship with these patients. The government says these referrals were based on brief reviews of the patient medical charts, which failed to establish any legitimate medical justification for the devices. It says charts were provided to Dr. Patel by RediDoc, LLC, a purported telemedicine company based in Phoenix, whose owners pleaded guilty to participation in a $64 million health care fraud conspiracy in May 2022. “We expect that federal health care providers submit necessary orders for patients they are actually treating,” said Derek M. Holt, special agent in charge, the Office of Personnel Management Office of the Inspector General. “We applaud our law enforcement partners and colleagues at the Department of Justice for their hard work in protecting the FEHBP and other federal health care programs from fraudulent claims.” The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
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