Indo-American couple sentenced for eight years over medical fraud heist

An Indian-American couple, on 17 August, has been sentenced to eight years in the U.S. for receiving more than USD 4.8 million from Medicare and private insurance companies for knowingly producing thousands of fraudulent medical test reports.

Kirtish N Patel, 54, and Nita K Patel, 53, from New Jersey pleaded guilty in November to health care fraud related to their Biosound Medical Services and Heart Solution PC. Federal prosecutors say Nita Patel received a six-and-a half year sentence yesterday, while Kirtish Patel was sentenced to more than eight years.

The couple has to pay more than USD 4.8 million in restitution. According to court papers, Kirtish Patel admitted to - from October 2008 through June 2014 - fraudulently interpreting and writing diagnostic reports produced by Biosound despite not having a medical license and knowing that the reports would be used by the referring physicians to make important patient treatment decisions.

Nita Patel admitted assisting her husband in forging physician signatures on the fraudulently produced reports to make them appear legitimate. Kirtish and Nita Patel also admitted falsely representing to Medicare that the neurological testing performed by Biosound was being supervised by a licensed neurologist.

Federal prosecutors alleged that more than 10,000 diagnostic reports generated by Biosound between October 2008 and June 2014 were never actually reviewed or interpreted by a physician.The couple were paid more than USD 4.8 million by Medicare and private insurance companies for the fraudulent reports, which they used for personal expenses, including multiple residences and luxury vehicles. The judge also ordered Kirtish and Nita Patel to serve three years of supervised release.

--PTI