Four Indian Americans charged with healthcare fraud

Four Indian Americans, including a physician and three co-owners of a health clinic from Chicago, have been charged with healthcare fraud estimated to be running into millions of dollars.
Federal law enforcement officials said three Indian Americans Ankur Roy, Akash Patel and Dipen Desai owned and operated Selectcare Health Inc., that provided outpatient physical and respiratory therapy in Park Ridge and Skokie.
They have been charged with submitting more than USD 4 million in false billings to Medicare between March and July 2011.
Each of them have been charged with six counts of healthcare fraud in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Wednesday and unsealed on Tuesday.

Another Indian-American, Doctor Nalini Ahluwalia, has been charged with one count of violating the anti-kickback law for allegedly receiving USD 1,000 in exchange for referring two patients to a home healthcare agency in August 2012.
Charged in a complaint filed in US District Court, she will be ordered to appear on a date to be determined, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Roy, 36, of Miami was arrested Tuesday in South Florida, while Patel (33) of Morton Grove and Desai (33) of Chicago will be ordered to appear for arraignment on a later date in US District Court in Chicago.

According to the indictment, Roy, Patel and Desai submitted false claims to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield on behalf of Selectcare patients for respiratory therapy services that were never provided.
The alleged false billings sought reimbursement for services purportedly provided on days that Selectcare's sole respiratory therapist was not working.