Editor’s note: How could the Probate Court of Cook County NOT be involved with this bunch of crooks? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
6 arrested in alleged kickback scheme at Sacred Heart Hospital
Press conference held detailing Sacred Heart Hospital physician kickback scheme. (CLTV)
The owner, a senior executive and four doctors affiliated with a West Side hospital were arrested today in a kickback scheme that allegedly involved unnecessary emergency room care as well as sedation, penile implants and tracheotomy procedures that were fraudulently billed to Medicare and Medicaid, federal prosecutors said.
Edward Novak, 58, of Park Ridge, the owner and chief executive officer of Sacred Heart Hospital; and Roy Payawal, 64, of Burr Ridge, the hospital's executive vice president and chief financial officer, were arrested this morning after being charged with fraud in a criminal complaint unsealed today, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.
Also charged in the scheme were physicians Venkateswara Kuchipudi, 66, of Oak Brook; Percy Conrad May Jr., 75, of Chicago; Subir Maitra, 73, of Chicago; and Shanin Moshiri, 57, of Chicago, prosecutors said.
About 40 patients were at the 119-bed hospital when federal authorities raided the facility this morning, authorities said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was at the hospital to coordinate continuity of care.
The alleged kickback scheme netted more than $225,000 in cash, and about $2 million in Medicare reimbursements were also seized today from various bank accounts, authorities said.
The charges were announced after federal agents executed search warrants early this morning at the small, private hospital in the 3200 block of West Franklin Boulevard.
Acting U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said in the release that doctors were bribed to refer patients to Sacred Heart as part of the kickback scheme and that "the quality of care and appropriate medical analysis were less important than maximizing the numbers of patients funneled into the hospital."
All six defendants were scheduled to appear for hearings this afternoon at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
According to the 90-page complaint, Novak and Payawal concocted the scheme to pay kickbacks to physicians in return for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients, then concealed the transactions as fictitious rental payments, ghost contracts for doctors with no real duties, and payments to physicians to "supervise and teach non-existent medical students."
Between January 2010 and February 2013, May allegedly received $74,000 in kickbacks disguised as rental payments. Moshiri, a podiatrist, allegedly received $86,000 for purporting to teach podiatry students while Maitra allegedly received $68,000 for a separate teaching contract that was also bogus, according to prosecutors.
A hospital administrator cooperating with the investigation allegedly recorded Maitra bragging about the cash he made performing "almost daily penile implant procedures on patients" and that he no longer performed as many because Medicare had reduced its rates of reimbursement, prosecutors said.
Kuchipudi, meanwhile, was known at the hospital as the "king of nursing homes," receiving kickbacks for Medicaid referrals that were hidden in part by paying a nurse and another doctor to work for Kuchipudi and drastically reduce his own costs, prosecutors said.
The investigation, which began in 2010, also uncovered a system to admit nursing home patients to Sacred Heart, "irrespective of any medical necessity," by using certain ambulance companies that were able to transport them as emergency room patients and directly bill Medicare, according to the charges.
Federal investigators are also probing whether a fifth doctor, referred to in the complaint only as "Sacred Heart Physician D," has been performing a high number of unnecessary intubations and prolonging them by directing heavy sedation, which led to tracheotomies that may not have been medically necessary.
Last month, the cooperating administrator recorded Novak saying that tracheotomies are the hospital's "biggest money maker" and that the hospital can make $160,000 for a tracheotomy if the patients stays for 27 days, prosecutors said.
asweeney@tribune.com
Twitter: @Annie1221
jmeisner@tribune.com
Twitter: @jmetr22b
Edward Novak, 58, of Park Ridge, the owner and chief executive officer of Sacred Heart Hospital; and Roy Payawal, 64, of Burr Ridge, the hospital's executive vice president and chief financial officer, were arrested this morning after being charged with fraud in a criminal complaint unsealed today, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.
Also charged in the scheme were physicians Venkateswara Kuchipudi, 66, of Oak Brook; Percy Conrad May Jr., 75, of Chicago; Subir Maitra, 73, of Chicago; and Shanin Moshiri, 57, of Chicago, prosecutors said.
The alleged kickback scheme netted more than $225,000 in cash, and about $2 million in Medicare reimbursements were also seized today from various bank accounts, authorities said.
The charges were announced after federal agents executed search warrants early this morning at the small, private hospital in the 3200 block of West Franklin Boulevard.
Acting U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said in the release that doctors were bribed to refer patients to Sacred Heart as part of the kickback scheme and that "the quality of care and appropriate medical analysis were less important than maximizing the numbers of patients funneled into the hospital."
All six defendants were scheduled to appear for hearings this afternoon at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
According to the 90-page complaint, Novak and Payawal concocted the scheme to pay kickbacks to physicians in return for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients, then concealed the transactions as fictitious rental payments, ghost contracts for doctors with no real duties, and payments to physicians to "supervise and teach non-existent medical students."
Between January 2010 and February 2013, May allegedly received $74,000 in kickbacks disguised as rental payments. Moshiri, a podiatrist, allegedly received $86,000 for purporting to teach podiatry students while Maitra allegedly received $68,000 for a separate teaching contract that was also bogus, according to prosecutors.
A hospital administrator cooperating with the investigation allegedly recorded Maitra bragging about the cash he made performing "almost daily penile implant procedures on patients" and that he no longer performed as many because Medicare had reduced its rates of reimbursement, prosecutors said.
Kuchipudi, meanwhile, was known at the hospital as the "king of nursing homes," receiving kickbacks for Medicaid referrals that were hidden in part by paying a nurse and another doctor to work for Kuchipudi and drastically reduce his own costs, prosecutors said.
The investigation, which began in 2010, also uncovered a system to admit nursing home patients to Sacred Heart, "irrespective of any medical necessity," by using certain ambulance companies that were able to transport them as emergency room patients and directly bill Medicare, according to the charges.
Federal investigators are also probing whether a fifth doctor, referred to in the complaint only as "Sacred Heart Physician D," has been performing a high number of unnecessary intubations and prolonging them by directing heavy sedation, which led to tracheotomies that may not have been medically necessary.
Last month, the cooperating administrator recorded Novak saying that tracheotomies are the hospital's "biggest money maker" and that the hospital can make $160,000 for a tracheotomy if the patients stays for 27 days, prosecutors said.
asweeney@tribune.com
Twitter: @Annie1221
jmeisner@tribune.com
Twitter: @jmetr22b
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-feds-execute-search-warrants-at-sacred-heart-hospital-20130416,0,5226859.story
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting.
Your comment will be held for approval by the blog owner.