An Indian-origin doctor in Georgia has agreed to pay $15 million to settle medical fraud charges against him.
Indian-origin urologist Jitesh Patel must pay $14 million to settle allegations that he defrauded health care programs by performing unnecessary procedures on his patients. An employee at Patel Advanced Urology in Georgia filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that they were performing procedures and tests that were not medically necessary. Another former employee also turned whistleblower and confirmed that Advanced Urology was “designed to maximize revenue for Dr. Patel and others by performing medically unnecessary procedures and tests,” according to court documents. He implanted some devices in patients without determining whether the patients would benefit from the devices; He performed unnecessary tests, including placing a patient under anesthesia; He also ordered thousands of unnecessary ultrasound tests, mandating each new patient to undergo a test that is rarely used in urology practices. The allegations state that he also billed for some procedures that he never performed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and several other departments investigated the case. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said, “Physicians commit fraud when they ask for payment for medically unnecessary procedures or bill for services they never performed.” “Our office will not tolerate patient abuse or misuse of government funds, and we will enforce the False Claims Act to hold wrongdoers accountable.”Under the False Claims Act, private citizens can bring suit for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery obtained by the government. The relators will collectively receive $2,940,000 from the settlement. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and no determination of liability is made.The lawsuits did not reveal whether patients suffered any health problems as a result of the unnecessary procedures. Dr. Patel is considered a pioneer in this field and has received numerous awards such as Atlanta Top Doctor, Top 40 and Under 40, etc. He studied medicine at Temple University School of Medicine.