Duo run NJ MedCare/NJ Heart.
AB Wire
NEW YORK: Two Indian American cardiologists, Dr. Jasjit Walia, and Dr. Preet Randhawa, who own and run Garden State Cardiovascular Specialists P.C. (Garden State), a cardiology practice which owns and operates several facilities in New Jersey under the name NJ MedCare/NJ Heart, have agreed to pay more than $3.6 million to resolve allegations that its facilities falsely billed federal health care programs for tests that were not medically necessary.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced that the settlement resolves allegations that Garden State and its principals, Walia and Randhawa, submitted claims to Medicare for various cardiology diagnostic tests and procedures, including stress tests, cardiac catheterizations, and external counterpulsation, which were not medically necessary, according to the Justice Department.
The allegations resolved by Thursday’s settlement were raised in a lawsuit filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. The Act allows private citizens with knowledge of fraud to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. The whistleblower, Cheryl Mazurek, will receive more than $648,000 as part of the settlement.