Ohio cardiologist convicted of overbilling $7.2 million

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal court jury in Cleveland has convicted a cardiologist of ordering unnecessary medical tests, performing unnecessary procedures and submitting fraudulent bills totaling $7.2 million.

Fifty-six-year-old Harold Persaud of Westlake was convicted Friday of one count of health care fraud, 13 counts of making false statements and one count of engaging in illegal monetary transactions. Prosecutors say Persaud billed Medicare and private insurers for more expensive procedures than were performed, falsified stress tests to justify unnecessary heart catheterizations and referred patients for heart bypasses they didn't need.

Persaud was accused of engaging in the scheme between 2006 and 2012. Prosecutors say the $7.2 million in fraudulent bills led to payments by insurers totaling $1.5 million.

Persaud's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/142221320f694beeadc3692cc0b279ed/ohio-cardiologist-convicted-overbilling-72-million

[Demeter]

1. At least they are starting to catch these greedy quacks

We had a case in Michigan:

Patients give horror stories as cancer doctor gets 45 years

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/us/michigan-cancer-doctor-sentenced/

A Detroit-area doctor who authorities say gave cancer treatment drugs to patients who did not need them -- including some who didn't actually have cancer -- was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison.

Dr. Farid Fata, 50, pleaded guilty in September to giving cancer treatments to misdiagnosed patients, telling some they had a terminal blood cancer called multiple myeloma. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of Medicare fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks and two counts of money laundering.

Federal prosecutors called him the "most egregious fraudster in the history of this country." To Fata, they said, "patients were not people. They were profit centers."

Fata forfeited $17.6 million that he collected from Medicare and private insurance companies. Some 553 patients received medically unnecessary infusions or injections, prosecutors said...

[secondvariety]

11. Horrible.

Glad he's serving time but it's sad they only got him for economic crimes. He should have been convicted for poisoning his patients, too.

[valerief]

12. "The people" don't matter. "The money" does. Taking money from rich insurance companies is evil.

Taking health from people is meh.

[TubbersUK]

2. "referred patients for heart bypasses they didn't need "

Unbelievable

[C Moon]

3. It's probably heart work.

It's scary knowing there are bastards out there like this: they hold people's lives in their hands, but only give a damn about filling up their bank accounts.

For his own sake, he'd better have a GOP Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Just don't be a self-insured patient

there are no laws governing what they will charge,
no retail price, no distributor price, no advertised price.

[Unknown Beatle]

10. That's why we need universal health care.

If Obama had fought as hard for universal health care as he did for the TPA, we'd have universal health care right now.

As a matter of fact, Obama said on June 23, 2007: “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American.”

Promises, promises.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Found a list of separate actions which were listed when he was indicted:

Authorities: Doctor performed unnecessary medical procedures as part of scheme

. . .

Authorities say the doctor did the following:

•Persaud selected the billing code for each customer submitted to Medicare and private insurers, and used codes that reflected a service that was more costly than that which was actually performed.

•Persaud performed nuclear stress tests on patients that were not medically necessary.

•He knowingly recorded false results of patients’ nuclear stress tests to justify cardiac catheterization procedures that were not medically necessary.

•Persaud performed cardiac catheterizations on patients at the hospitals and falsely recorded the existence and extent of lesions (blockage) observed during the procedures.

•He recorded false symptoms in patient records to justify testing and procedures on patients.

•Persaud inserted cardiac stents in patients who did not have 70 percent or more blockage in the vessel that he stented and who did not have symptoms of blockage.

•He placed a stent in a stenosed artery that already had a functioning bypass, thus providing no medical benefit and increasing the risk of harm to the patient.

•He improperly referred patients for coronary artery bypass surgery when there was no medical necessity for such surgery, which benefitted Persaud by increasing the amount of follow-up testing he could perform and bill to Medicare and private insurers.

•Persaud performed medically unnecessary stent procedures, aortograms, renal angiograms and other procedures and tests.

. . .

http://fox8.com/2014/08/21/authorities-doctor-performed-unnecessary-medical-procedures-as-part-of-scheme/

[Stuart G]

6. Omaha Steve posted about another crook a eleven days ago.,,At least they're catching some of them.

Thank You for posting both of these stories..

This other one is very hard to believe.
...You should read it if you haven't..

California doctor charged in $150 million insurance scam....


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141208160

[forest444]

7. Jeb must be thinking "Only $7.2 mil? What an amateur!"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3335.htm

[Gregorian]

8. A percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty here...

a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty there, and you're talking money.

[davidpdx]

9. How many more doctors are out there doing this same thing?

He'll do less than 5 years.

[mitch96]

16. From what I saw…. A LOT

I worked in hospitals as a tech for over 40 years before retiring.. This happened a lot from what I saw.. I'll never forget the surgeon busting into the radiologists office with an ultrasound of a gall bladder. "Hey, find something on this ultrasound, I have to cut this week to make a boat payment"… As a young tech it sounded horrible and I found out it was the norm.
Many times the radiologist would give a "differential diagnosis" that could not be ruled out without many many expensive tests… All of which would line the radiologists pockets..
The government had to step in so doc's could not own MRI scanners because they were self referring them selves into mansions.. Orthopedist were the worse down by me..
Down here in SoFla medicare scams are out of control.. It's so blatant for the life of me I don't know how these guys don't get busted..
Young doc's come into the field wanting to help people and get seduced by the money. Med school is expensive, the lifestyle is expensive too.. Ask your doctor if he or she "only" made $100,000 a year would they go into medicine???
And just remember, Preventive medicine is BAD for their business.
Ok rant mode off…

m

[FlaGranny]

13. He referred

patients for unnecessary bypasses. What about the doctors who performed the unnecessary bypasses?

[packman]

14. Christ, I hope the people he abused

are lining up their lawyers - strip the guy of all his money, house, cars, and anything else that has a $value since this is the only thing he apparently holds dear to him.

[olddots]

15. I don't think this over billing will ever stop

We live in a greed based economy that enables and glorifys these turd maggots. People have gotten used to this and feel it can't be stopped so they wish they could do the same .